Kristi Govella

Senior Adviser and Japan Chair
Kristi Govella

Kristi Govella is senior adviser and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She is also associate professor of Japanese politics and international relations at the University of Oxford. Dr. Govella was previously the inaugural director of the congressionally funded Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, where she was also assistant professor of Asian studies from 2018 to 2024. From 2021 to 2022, she was senior fellow and deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington, DC, headquarters of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, where she led the Japan and Korea portfolios. From 2017 to 2018, she conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Program on U.S.-Japan Relations. From 2016 to 2017, Dr. Govella was associate professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, where she taught security-related courses for military and civilian representatives of the United States and Indo-Pacific countries and briefed U.S. government officials on regional issues. She has also been a visiting research fellow at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University and an adjunct fellow at the East-West Center and Pacific Forum. Dr. Govella is a widely published author and commentator in major outlets, and her work has examined topics such as economic statecraft, government-business relations, regional institutional architecture, military alliances, critical and emerging technologies, and the governance of the maritime, outer space, and cyber domains. She also serves as co-editor of the journal Asia Policy. She holds a PhD and an MA in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in political science and Japanese from the University of Washington, Seattle.

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State of Play

Was the G7 Summit in France a Success?

Victor Cha, Kristi Govella, Phil Luck, and Caitlin Welsh join Will to assess how meaningful the outcomes of the G7 Summit were.

Podcast Episode by CSIS Scholars — June 17, 2026

Photo: iLab/CSIS
Southeast Asia Radio

Japan’s Southeast Asia Policy with Kristi Govella

This week, Greg and Elina were joined by Kristi Govella to talk about Japan’s foreign policy direction in Southeast Asia under PM Takaichi Sanae. Lauren and Japhet cover the latest, from prisoner releases in Myanmar to joint military exercises in the Philippines.

Podcast Episode by CSIS Scholars — May 21, 2026

CSIS Southeast Asia Radio

Why Japan and South Korea Won’t Go Nuclear

CSIS’s Victor Cha and Kristi Govella argue in Foreign Affairs that nuclear concerns about Japan and South Korea are exaggerated—but the United States should remain vigilant on the proliferation risk in East Asia.

Commentary by Victor Cha and Kristi Govella — May 7, 2026

Audio Briefs

What Are the Implications of the Iran Conflict for Japan?

An audio version of “⁠What Are the Implications of the Iran Conflict for Japan?⁠,” a new Commentary by CSIS's Kristi Govella and Jane Nakano. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.

Podcast Episode by Kristi Govella and Jane Nakano — March 20, 2026

Audio Briefs