The Japan Society

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ARCHIVED Security and Geopolitical Consequences of the US Election, with Nobukatsu Kanehara and John Scarlett

Wednesday 11 November 2020 / 12:00pm
Security and Geopolitical Consequences of the US Election, with Nobukatsu Kanehara and John Scarlett

Date
Wednesday 11 November 2020
Time
12.00 noon – 1.00pm (GMT)

9.00pm (JST)
Check the time in your location

Booking Details
Free – Donations Welcome
Registration essential

Book online here

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For our 11 November webinar, Japan Society Chairman Bill Emmott is joined by two security experts, Nobukatsu Kanehara and Sir John Scarlett to take stock of geopolitics and security as an eventful 2020 draws to a close.

“Perfect storms” are modern cliches, but 2020 surely qualifies, with the COVID-19 pandemic still raging, yet far more in the West than in Asia, with terrorist attacks in France and Austria, with the US and China in a stand-off, with the UK’s exit terms from the EU still unclear, and above all with a highly messy outcome in the US presidential and congressional elections.

What are the geopolitical and security implications of all this, and how are Japan and the UK placed amid these stormy times? Does the world look different from Japan and from the UK, and can the ‘middle nations’ support each other in any significant ways? How is the US election outcome seen from our two countries?

Nobukatsu Kanehara is Professor of Doshisha University’s Faculty of Law and is a former Japanese senior diplomat who served as Assistant Chief Cabinet Secretary to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, Mr Kanehara became the inaugural Deputy Secretary-General of the National Security Secretariat, a role which he held until his retirement from government service in 2019. He also served as Deputy Director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. He is the author of 戦略外交言論 (A Grand Strategy of Japan for the 21st Century, Nihon Keizai Shinbun Shuppansha, 2011).

Sir John Scarlett KCMG OBE served as Chief of the British Secret Intelligence Service (SIS or MI6) from 2004 to 2009. Sir John joined SIS in 1971 and over the next 20 years served in Nairobi, Paris and twice in Moscow as well as several assignments in London. He was Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Committee (JIC) from September 2001 until August 2004. Sir John’s current roles include Senior Advisor at Morgan Stanley; Chairman, International Advisory Group, Equinor; Member of Swiss Re Strategic Council; Chairman, SC Strategy Ltd; Director, Times Newspaper Holdings; Vice Chairman, Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) and Co-Chair of the Global Advisory Council, Woodrow Wilson Center, Washington DC.

Explore our series of webinars with leading experts in politics, economy and media. More details on upcoming events and past webinar videos HERE