Political Science

Kristin Vekasi

Associate Professor-Political Science and School of Policy & International Affairs
PhD, MA University of Wisconsin, Madison
231 Boudreau Hall
kristin.vekasi@maine.edu
207. 581.1879
Personal website 

Kristin Vekasi is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and School of Policy and International Affairs and the Director of the International Affairs Program at the University of Maine. Her research interests focus on international political economy, and the dynamics of political conflict, foreign direct investment, nationalism, and the geopolitics of supply chains. She specializes in Northeast Asia, and has spent years conducting research in China, Japan, and South Korea. Her book Risk Management Strategies of Japanese Companies in China (Routledge 2019) explores how Japanese multinational corporations mitigate political risk in China. Her current research examines how Japan, China, and the United States cooperate and compete to manage complex supply chains and infrastructure projects in Southeast Asia. 

Professor Vekasi received her PhD in political science from the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 2014. Prior to joining the faculty at University of Maine, she taught at New College of Florida, was a visiting Research Fellow at the University of Tokyo and a Fulbright Fellow at Tohoku University. She is a member of the Mansfield Foundation’s US-Japan Network for the Future, and a National Bureau of Asias Research 2019 National Asia Research Program Fellow. 

Curriculum Vitae