Global Political Cities, the latest book by Kent Calder, director of the Reischauer Center at Johns Hopkins SAIS, demonstrates why cities cope much better than nations with many global problems

As the pace of change accelerates around the world and national governments fail to respond, global cities are growing more influential, both as policy makers and as stages for political action on the international scene, argues Kent Calder, director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins University SAIS. In his latest book, Global Political Cities: Actors and Arenas of Influence in International Affairs, Calder explores how and why cities are re-capturing policy agendas ranging from environment and public safety to transportation, even amidst a pandemic and social turmoil. 

 

Published by Brookings Institution Press, Global Political Cities focuses on fifteen major cities worldwide, demonstrating why these cities cope better than most nations with 21st century problems. The book also highlights the achievements of high-profile mayors and chronicles the growing influence of think tanks, mass media, and other global agenda-setters in their local urban political settings. In addition, the book shows how these cities serve in the internet age as the global stage for grassroots appeals and protests of international significance, including those in Washington, D.C.

 

Calder is available for interviews and can discuss address the following questions from the book:

 

• How do cities magnify the role local protests play in reshaping global agendas?

• How did London lose an empire and yet enhance its global standing?

• Can major Asian cities, ranging from Beijing and Tokyo to Singapore, ever meaningfully shape the global policy agenda?

• Do global political cities really serve national interests?

• Will there ever be another global city like Washington, D.C.? 
 

Additional information about Global Political Cities is available here:

Jason Lucas 

Communications Manager

Johns Hopkins SAIS

+1 (202) 663-5620

Kent Calder is director of the Edwin O. Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and previously served as Director of Asia Programs from 2016 to 2018. Prior to his arrival at Johns Hopkins SAIS in 2003, Calder served as Special Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), professor at Princeton University, lecturer on government at Harvard University, and the first Executive Director of Harvard University’s Program on U.S.-Japan Relations.

 

A specialist in East Asian political economy, Calder spent 11 years living and researching in Japan and four years elsewhere in East Asia. In 2014, he received the Order of the Rising Sun and Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon. Calder has also written the following books: Super Continent: The Logic of Eurasian Integration, Circles of Compensation: Economic Growth and the Globalization of Japan, Singapore: Smart City, Smart State; Asia in Washington: Exploring the Penumbra of Transnational Power, and The New Continentalism: Energy and Twenty-First Century Eurasian Geopolitics.

A division of Johns Hopkins University, the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) is a global institution that offers students an international perspective on today's critical issues. For more than 75 years, Johns Hopkins SAIS has produced great leaders, thinkers, and practitioners of international relations. Public leaders and private sector executives alike seek the counsel of the faculty, whose ideas and research inform and shape policy. Johns Hopkins SAIS offers a global perspective across three campus locations: Bologna, Italy; Nanjing, China; and Washington, D.C. The school's interdisciplinary curriculum is strongly rooted in the study of international economics, international relations, and regional studies, preparing students to address multifaceted challenges in the world today.

 

For more information, visit sais.jhu.edu or @SAISHopkins

 

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