Gregg Brazinsky

Gregg Brazinsky is a specialist on U.S.-East Asian relations during the Cold War. His work focuses on the social and cultural impact of the United States on East Asia. His first book, Nation Building in South Korea, examines why South Korea was among the few post-colonial nations to achieve economic development and political democracy. It is the first monograph on the subject to use both American and Korean source materials. He received a Kluge Fellowship from the Library of Congress and grants from the Association for Asian Studies and the Sigur Center to do work on this project. (Complete C.V.)

Professor Brazinsky is now pursuing research on several other projects. One is a study of the cultural impact of the Korean War in America, Korea and China. Another focuses on Sino-American competition in the Third World during the Cold War. In particular, he is interested in comparing the approaches to nation building that the two countries used. He has been awarded a grant from the Smith Richardson Foundation for this research. He co-directs GW's Cold War Group. (Complete C.V.).

Selected Publications

Nation Building in South Korea: Koreans, Americans and the Making of a Democracy. New York: Columbia University Press, 2007.

"The United States and Multilateral Security Cooperation in Northeast Asia," Asian Perspective 32, no.2 (Summer 2008): 21-36.

"From Pupil to Model: American economic development policy and the ROK 1961-1968." Diplomatic History 29, no. 1 (January 2005): 83-115.

"Koreanizing Modernization: South Korean Intellectuals and American Modernization Theories." In Staging Growth: Modernization, Development and the Cold War, ed. Michael Latham et. al., 251-274. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2003.

Courses Taught

Hist 101: Cold War in Asia
Hist 101: The Cold War in the Third World
Hist 182W: U.S. Diplomatic History in the 20th Century
Hist 282: History of US Foreign Policy, 1898 to the present
Hist 297: History of U.S.-Asian Relations

Education

Ph.D., Cornell University, 2002.