Biography
Education
- Ph.D., 2000, Political Science, University of Hawaii
Courses Taught
- POLS 155 - American Political Institutions
- POLS 156 - Introduction to Comparative Politics
- POLS 421 - Politics of Development
- POLS 435B - Politics and Government of Japan
- POLS 522F - International Relations of Selected Areas
Selected Publications and Presentations
Books
Hirata, K. and Warschauer, M. (2014) Japan: The Paradox of Harmony. London: Yale University Press
Sato, Y. & Hirata, K. (Eds.). (2008). Norms, interests, and power in Japanese foreign policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hirata, K. (2002). Civil society in Japan: The growing role of NGOs in Tokyo's aid and development policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Refereed Journal Articles
Hirata, K. (2008). Who shapes the national security debate?: Divergent interpretations of Japan's security role. Asian Affairs: An American Review, 35 (3), 123-151
Hirata, K. (2005). Why Japan supports whaling. Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy, 8, 1-21.
Hirata, K. (2004). Civil society and Japan’s dysfunctional democracy. Journal of Developing Societies, 20(1-2), 107-124.
Hirata, K. (2004). Beached whales: Examining Japan's rejection of an international norm, Social Science Japan Journal, 7(2), 177-197. [Published in Japanese as: Hirata, K. (2006). Hogei mondai: Nihon seifu ni yoru kokusai kihan kyohi no kousatsu. University of Tokyo Shakai Kagaku Kenkyu (Social Sciences Research), 57(2), 162-190. Translator: Yukiko Yamazaki]
Hirata, K. (2002). Whither the developmental state? The growing role of NGOs in pluralizing Japanese aid policy making, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 4(3), 165-188.
Book Chapters
Hirata, K. (2008). Japan's whaling policy: Rejection of an international norm. In Itoh, H. (Ed.), Japan's public policy under the gun of globalization. Buffalo, NY & Wales, UK: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Hirata, K. (2008). Global norms and civil society: New influences on Japanese security policy. In Sato, Y. & Hirata, K. (Eds.), Norms, interests, and power in Japanese foreign policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hirata, K. (2008). Japan’s whaling politics. In Sato, Y. & Hirata, K. (Eds.), Norms, interests, and power in Japanese foreign policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hirata, K. (2008). Conclusion. In Sato, Y. & Hirata, K. (Eds.), Norms, interests, and power in Japanese foreign policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Sato, Y. & Hirata, K. (2008). Introduction: Constructivism, rationalism, and the study of norms in Japanese foreign policy/ in Sato, Y. & Hirata, K. (Eds.), Norms, interests, and power in Japanese foreign policy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hirata, K. (2004). Indoshina ni okeru Nihon no gaiko: Jishu-gaiko no tsuikyu to sono genkai [Japan’s role in Indochina: The challenges of pursuing an independent policy]. In A. Miyashita and Y. Sato and (Eds.) Kan-Taiheiyo ni okeru Nihon no gaiko [Japan’s foreign policy in Asia and the Pacific](pp. 15-52). Tokyo: Minerva Shobo.
Hirata, K. (2003). Nihon no gaiko [Japanese foreign policy]. In H. Hirono and M. Kohno (Eds.) Akusesu Nihon seijiron [Access to Japanese political theory] (pp. 236-258). Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Hyoron-sha [also published in Korean translation].
Hirata, K. (2001). Cautious proactivism and reluctant reactivism: Analyzing Japan’s foreign policy toward Indochina. In A. Miyashita and Y. Sato (Eds.) Japan’s foreign policy in Asia and the Pacific: Domestic interests, American pressure, and regional integration (pp. 75-101). New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hirata, K. (2001). Reaction and Action: Analyzing Japan’s relations with the Socialist Republic of Vietnam. In S. Y. Maswood (Ed.) Regionalism and Japan: The bases of trust and leadership (pp. 90-117). London: Routledge.
Research and Interests
Dr. Hirata's research focuses on the domestic underpinnings of foreign policy. She examines, among other things, how state-society relations affect foreign policy development, the role of non-governmental organizations in policymaking, ideological contestation among actors in the foreign policy arena, and the domestic adoption or rejection of international norms. The goal of her work is to develop a theoretical model of how ideological and political structures intersect to shape foreign policy. She is currently investigating the contestation of state identity among major political camps in post-Cold War Japan and the relationship of this struggle to changes in Tokyo's security policy.