Susan L. Shirk (born 1945) is a professor at the

School of Global Policy and Strategy The School of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) at the University of California San Diego, formerly the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies (IR/PS), is devoted to the study of international affairs, economics, and policy ...

at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Insti ...

. Her research field is

Chinese politics The People's Republic of China is run by a single party, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), headed by the CCP General Secretary who tends to be the paramount leader of China. China is among few contemporary party-led dictatorships to not hold ...

. Shirk served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs of the US State Department from 1997 to 2000 during the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

Early life and education

Susan Shirk was born circa 1945. Shirk received a

bachelor of arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

with a major in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and la ...

from

Mount Holyoke College Mount Holyoke College is a private liberal arts women's college in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It is the oldest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite historically women's colleges in the Northeastern United States. ...

South Hadley South Hadley (, ) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 18,150 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. South Hadley is home to Mount Holyoke Colleg ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

in 1967. She received a

master of arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

Asian studies Asian studies is the term used usually in North America and Australia for what in Europe is known as Oriental studies. The field is concerned with the Asian people, their cultures, languages, history and politics. Within the Asian sphere, Asian ...

from the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

in 1968 and a

doctor of philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common Academic degree, degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields ...

in political science from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

in 1974. She first traveled to China in 1971 as a member of the

Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars The Committee of Concerned Asian Scholars (CCAS) was founded in 1968 by a group of graduate students and younger faculty as part of the opposition to the American participation in the Vietnam War. They proposed a "radical critique of the assumptio ...

Career

Shirk is the Ho Miu Lam Endowed Chair of China and Pacific Relations in the

at the

and Director of the

Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or colloquially, UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in San Diego, California. Established in 1960 near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego is t ...

. She heads the Northeast Asia Cooperation Dialogue, a track II diplomatic initiative.

Selected books

*''Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise,'' 2022 *''China: Fragile Superpower: How China's Internal Politics Could Derail Its Peaceful Rise'', 2007 *''How China Opened Its Door: The Political Success of the PRC's Foreign Trade and Investment Reform'', 1994 *''The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China'', 1993 *''The Challenge of China and Japan: Politics and Development in East Asia'', 1985 * Competitive Comrades, 1982

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirk, Susan United States Department of State officials American women diplomats American diplomats University of California, San Diego faculty Mount Holyoke College alumni MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences alumni University of California, Berkeley alumni 1945 births Living people American women political scientists American political scientists 21st-century American women