Aging Allies? National Security Implications of Demographic Change in the Indo-Pacific

Oct. 19, 2021: Aging Allies? National Security Implications of Demographic Change in the Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific region is facing big demographic changes. By 2050 the populations of China, Japan, and Russia (three of the region’s most powerful militaries) will shrink by 100 million while the population of Asia as a whole will increase by over 700 million, 260 million in India alone. Thus, whereas Japan, South Korea, and China are ageing rapidly, other nations in the Indo-Pacific region are facing youth bulges. Today, Japan’s military is the most powerful it has been in a long time. Demographic change is balanced by other developments, including novel security threats and technological solutions and shifts in society and political systems that allow for adaption. Join Andrew Oros and Ellis Krauss as they discuss how these trends combine, and what they mean for the United States’ interests in the region.

Speakers:
• Andrew L. Oros, Professor of Political Science and International Studies, Washington College
• Ellis S. Krauss, Professor Emeritus, UC San Diego School of Global Policy and Strategy
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Andrew L. Oros is Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland and a fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. He is the author of Japan’s Security Renaissance (Columbia University Press, 2017), and two other books and numerous articles and book chapters on issues related to East Asian security and Japanese politics. He earned a BA at the University of Southern California, an MSc from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in political science from Columbia University.

Ellis Krauss is a leading expert on Japanese politics and U.S.-Japan relations. His research interests include Japan and the U.S. in Asia, Japanese foreign policy, domestic politics in Japan and the Japanese mass media. In 2019, Brookings Institution Press published his co-authored book "Reluctant Warriors: Germany, Japan, and Their U.S. Alliance Dilemma."