Japan as a security purveyor in Western Africa: conceptual and geographical challenges

Mika INOUE-HANZAWA is currently an Associate professor at the Toyo Gakuen University. She was previously an Associate professor at the Hiroshima Shudo University (2010-2017) and a Visiting fellow at the Hiroshima Peace Institute (2015). She also worked for the MOFA as a Research fellow at the International Peace Cooperation Division and the International Law Division in 2008. From July 2005 to January 2006, she was a Visiting scholar at the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University with a Fulbright scholarship. She received a MA from the Tsuda College in 2002 and completed her doctoral course at the institution in 2008. From April 2018, she has been a Ph.D. candidate of the Graduate Program on Human Security, University of Tokyo.

Her research interests cover both International Politics and International Security Studies. Much of her work is about UN Peacekeeping in Africa (particularly Somalia, South Sudan), as well as relations between the UN and regional organizations (AU, IGAD) regarding the question of peace and security. She also writes articles about Japan’s international peace cooperation in Africa.