Dr. Soo Yeon Kim joins SPPGA as Pacific Affairs Editor & Faculty Member

Bringing with her a wealth of experience in the study of international political economy with specialization in trade politics, Dr. Soo Yeon Kim has recently joined the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs faculty as an Associate Professor. She will serve as editor for the longstanding Pacific Affairs journal, as well hold the position of Korea Foundation Chair.

Professor Kim previously served as Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at the National University of Singapore, and has also held fellowships at Princeton University, the Transatlantic Academy based at the German Marshall Fund, and the East-West Center in Washington, DC. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Yale University and her B.A. in Political Science and International Relations from Yonsei University.

To get to know her better, we asked her a few questions about herself and her upcoming projects and interests:

Tell us a bit about yourself and what drew you to UBC and the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs.
SPPGA is a young school with great potential. I am happy for the opportunity to contribute to its development and growth. I especially appreciate the multidisciplinarity of the faculty at the School. This means students benefit from interdisciplinary training and a holistic approach to the pressing issues of our time such as climate change and great power rivalries.

Your work focuses on the global political economy, including special interests in trade politics and Asian affairs. What gravitates you toward these issues? What drives your research?
I am most interested in the evolution of the global trading system. The World Trade Organization was established almost 30 years ago in 1995, and we have yet to see a multilateral trade round that has been successfully negotiated. Governance of trade is now dominated by free trade agreements that foremostly liberalize trade among its members. Asia is particularly interesting because it is where the largest trade agreement in terms of population is located: the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement. The RCEP includes the ten members of Association of Southeast Asian Nations and five major Asian economies – China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand. Coupled with the emergence of the Indo-Pacific initiative of the United States and geoeconomics more broadly, it is an exciting time to study the international political economy (IPE) of Asia and its ramifications for global trade governance.

Pacific Affairs focuses on social, political, and economic issues across Asia and the Pacific regions. As an incoming editor, how have you seen such publications influence discourse about global issues? What are your hopes for the journal’s impact?
My goal is to align the journal with the SPPGA’s mission. That means building on the journal’s past strengths to develop Pacific Affairs as a journal of scholarly importance and policy relevance. I’m looking forward to working with an excellent team of Associate Editors and continuing to advance Pacific Affairs as an impactful journal that provides in-depth analyses of current issues and broader theoretical questions in the study of Asia.

What are you working on currently that excites you?
I have projects on the politics of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, regime complexity in trade agreements, and regulatory coordination and regional integration in Asia. I am excited about discovering new patterns of economic exchange and connecting them to emerging governance issues and challenges for international cooperation.

Tell us about a favourite hobby or activity outside of work that you’re passionate about.
I am a devoted student of yoga.

We are pleased to welcome Dr. Soo Yeon Kim to the SPPGA faculty!