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. She is also associate professor of Japanese politics and international relations at the University of Oxford. Dr. Govella has published widely on topics such as regional institutional architecture, economic security, military alliances, trade, technology, and governance of the maritime, outer space, and cyber domains. She was previously 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, D.C., headquarters of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, where she led the Japan and Korea portfolios. She also held positions as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Program on U.S.-Japan Relations and as associate professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, where she taught courses and provided briefings for military and civilian representatives of the U.S. and Indo-Pacific countries. Dr. Govella is coeditor of the journal Asia Policy, adjunct fellow at the East-West Center, and has been a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University. 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. She lived in Japan for five years and is professionally proficient in Japanese.

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Japan as a Maritime Great Power and the China Challenge

Join the CSIS Japan Chair for a discussion of Japan’s evolution as one of the world’s most significant maritime great powers, the challenges it faces from China, and the potential for U.S.-Japan cooperation.

Event — October 1, 2026

Manila Strategy Forum 2026

The Southeast Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in collaboration with Amador Research Services, is pleased to announce that the 2026 Manila Strategy Forum.
 

Event — September 9, 2026

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