Professor Pempel is the Jack M. Forcey Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focuses on comparative politics, Japanese political economy, and Asian regional issues. His most recent books include Remapping East Asia: The Construction of a Region; Beyond Bilateralism: U.S.-Japan Relations in the New Asia-Pacific; Crisis as Catalyst: Asia’s Dynamic Political Economy; and Security Cooperation in Northeast Asia, co-authored with Lee Chung Min.