Brian Bridges is a Professor in the Department of Political Science. His areas of research specialisation are Japanese politics and foreign policy; the international relations of the Korean peninsula; Asian Pacific security issues; Europe's relations with Asia; and the sports-politics nexus. His current projects include Korea's involvement in the Asian Pacific, sports devlopment in Hong Kong, and Japan-Korea relations (especially concerning the North Korean nuclear crisis).

His fields of teaching are mainly in international relations, comparative politics, and Asian studies, especially non-China studies. He was first Associate Director and then Director of the Centre for Asian Pacific Studies, 2002-2008; he particularly developed links with the two Koreas and organised an annual conference on contemporary Korea regularly from 2003.

He is keen on sports (especially cricket) and watching detective dramas and political thrillers.

Research | Top

• Japanese politics and foreign policy
  
• Politics and foreign policies of the two Koreas
  
• Sport and international relations
  
• Europe's relations with the Asia Pacific

Selected Publications (2007-2012) | Top

Books

The Two Koreas and the Politics of Global Sport. Leiden: Brill/Global Oriental, forthcoming 2012.

Public Governance in Asia and The Limits of Electoral Democracy (co-edited with Ho Lok Sang). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2010, 320 pp.

Europe-Asia Relations: Building Multilateralisms (co-edited with Richard Balme), Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan 2008.

Articles and Book Chapters

"A Bid Too Far: Hong Kong and the 2023 Asian Games", International Journal of History of Sport, Vol. 29, No. 4, March 2012, pp. 652-65.

"The Making of a Modest Mega-Event: Hong Kong and the East Asian Games", Internationl Journal of History of Sport, Vol. 28, No. 16, November 2011, pp. 2384-97.

"Beyond the Olympics: Power, Change and Legacy",  International Journal of China Studies, August-September 2011, pp. 243-257.

"Playing the Game? Sport and the Two Koreas", in Rudiger Frank, James Hoare, Patrick Kollner and Susan Pares (eds), Korea Yearbook, Volume 3, Politics, Economy and Society 2009. pp. 329-348.

"Football, Nationalism and Fan Violence in China", China Aktuell, No. 2, 2009, pp. 60-82.

(co-author with Chan Che-po) "Looking North: Taiwan's Relations with Japan under Chen Shui-bian", Pacific Affairs, Vol. 81, No. 4, Winter 2008-09, pp. 577-96.

"Reluctant Mediator: Hong Kong, the Two Koreas and the Tokyo Olympics", International Journal of the History of Sport, Vol. 24, No. 3, March 2007, pp. 375-391.

Teaching Subjects | Top