Kristi Govella

Senior Adviser and Japan Chair
Kristi Govella

Kristi Govella is senior adviser and Japan Chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). She is also associate professor of Japanese politics and international relations at the University of Oxford. Dr. Govella was previously the inaugural director of the congressionally funded Center for Indo-Pacific Affairs at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, where she was also assistant professor of Asian studies from 2018 to 2024. From 2021 to 2022, she was senior fellow and deputy director of the Asia Program at the Washington, DC, headquarters of the German Marshall Fund of the United States, where she led the Japan and Korea portfolios. From 2017 to 2018, she conducted research as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Program on U.S.-Japan Relations. From 2016 to 2017, Dr. Govella was associate professor at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, where she taught security-related courses for military and civilian representatives of the United States and Indo-Pacific countries and briefed U.S. government officials on regional issues. She has also been a visiting research fellow at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University and an adjunct fellow at the East-West Center and Pacific Forum. Dr. Govella is a widely published author and commentator in major outlets, and her work has examined topics such as economic statecraft, government-business relations, regional institutional architecture, military alliances, critical and emerging technologies, and the governance of the maritime, outer space, and cyber domains. She also serves as co-editor of the journal Asia Policy. She holds a PhD and an MA in political science from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA in political science and Japanese from the University of Washington, Seattle.

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The Impossible State Live Podcast: Is the Pivot to Asia Dead?

Is the Pivot to Asia Dead? What should we expect from Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s visit to Washington? Dr. Victor Cha hosts a discussion with leading experts on these issues on the Impossible State Live Podcast.

Event — March 18, 2026

State of Play: The Global Impact of the SCOTUS Decision on IEEPA Tariffs

On February 20, the U.S. Supreme Court declared President Donald Trump’s use of IEEPA to impose global tariffs against U.S. trading partners illegal. CSIS experts assess how governments and key sectors around the world are likely to interpret and react to the decision.

Commentary by CSIS Scholars — February 20, 2026

Audio Briefs

State of Play: The Global Impact of the SCOTUS Decision on IEEPA Tariffs

An audio version of “⁠State of Play: The Global Impact of the SCOTUS Decision on IEEPA Tariffs⁠,” a new Commentary by CSIS’s Victor Cha, Nicholas Szechenyi, Oge Onubogu, Christopher Hernandez-Roy, Charles Edel, Scott Kennedy, Ilaria Mazzocco, Henrietta Levin, Bonny Lin, Federico Steinberg, Richard M. Rossow, Kristi Govella, Mona Yacoubian, and Gregory B. Poling. This audio was generated with text-to-speech by Eleven Labs.

Podcast Episode by CSIS Scholars — February 20, 2026

Audio Briefs
State of Play

Can middle powers build a new world order as PM Carney says?

Chris Hernandez-Roy and Kristi Govella join Will to discuss whether or not key U.S. allies like Canada and Japan could do this, what it might look like, and what the risks are.

Podcast Episode by Will Todman, Christopher Hernandez-Roy, and Kristi Govella — January 29, 2026

Photo: iLab/CSIS

2026 U.S.-Japan Security Seminar

Join the CSIS Japan Chair in collaboration with The Japan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA) for the 2026 U.S.-Japan Security Seminar

Event — January 23, 2026