Brian Woodall
Professor
- School of International Affairs
Overview
Brian Woodall received his PhD from the University of California at Berkeley, and, prior to joining Georgia Tech's faculty, held full-time faculty positions at the University of California at Irvine and Harvard University. He has held visiting appointments at the University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tohoku University, and Kobe University. Dr. Woodall is the author of Growing Democracy in Japan (University Press of Kentucky), Japan Under Construction (University of California Press), and Japan's Changing World Role (Japan Society), and co-editor of Elections in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan Under the Single Non-Transferable Vote (University Michigan Press). He has published in numerous academic journals including the International Journal of Urban Sciences, Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Journal of Urban Planning and Development, and Asian Survey. His research and teaching utilize the tools of comparative institutional analysis to illuminate sustainable development-related issues, including disaster resilience, megaregion sustainability, energy security, and environmental stewardship. Dr. Woodall has received funding from the Fulbright Commission, Coca-Cola Foundation, U.S.-Japan Friendship Commission, the Abe Fellowship Program of the Social Science Research Council, the University of California Pacific Rim Research Program, and the Japan Foundation. He currently serves as Director of the Japan Summer Program in Sustainable Development, Associate Director of the Nakatani RIES Program, and is a member of Kobe University's Board of Advisors.
- Ph.D., University of California at Berkeley (Political Science)
Distinctions:
- Member of Kobe University Advisory Board
- Fulbright Scholar (Japan)
- Abe Fellow (Social Science Research Council)
- Japan Foundation Dissertation Fellow
- Chancellor Dissertation Fellow (UC-Berkeley)
- Philo Sherman Bennett Prize in Political Science
Interests
- Clean Energy
- Climate Change Adaptation
- Comparative Politics: Regional Studies
- Cultural and Ethical Awareness
- Energy Efficiency
- Energy, Climate and Environmental Policy
- Global Energy Security
- Globalization: Political Economy and Governance
- Institutional Analysis
- Regional Security Challenges
- Transportation
Focuses:
- Asia (East)
- Energy
- Environment
- International Development
- Regional Development
- Infrastructure
- Institution-Building
- Sustainability
- Transportation
Courses
- INTA-2001: Careers In Intl Affairs
- INTA-2050: Intro to Global Develpmt
- INTA-2230: Govt & Politics of Asia
- INTA-2698: Research Assistantship
- INTA-3040: Energy Environ Policy
- INTA-3203: Comparative Politics
- INTA-3231: Gov't & Politics-Japan
- INTA-3232: Sustainable Megaregion
- INTA-4040: Environmental Politics
- INTA-4744: Global Develop Capstone
- INTA-6202: Comparative Politics
- INTA-8001: Sci,Tech&Intl Affairs II
- INTA-8010: IAST Ph.D. Proseminar
- INTA-8813: Special Topics
- INTA-8823: Special Topics
- INTA-8833: Special Topics
Recent Publications
Journal Articles
- Institutional resilience and disaster governance: How countries respond to Black Swan events
In: Progress in Disaster Science [Peer Reviewed]
Date: May 2024
In a worldwide hazard environment exacerbated by the effects of climate change and the increasing interconnectedness of built and social systems, disasters are becoming more frequent, more destructive, and locally more variegated. Yet some communities are more disaster resilient than others. What explains this? This study employs institutional resilience as a lens through which to compare the responses to large-scale disasters taken by Australia, Japan, and The Netherlands, three affluent democracies with distinctive institutional arrangements. In so doing, we use the Swan Matrix as a yardstick for gauging the adaptive capacity of different systems of disaster governance. By focusing on human efforts to build resilience, we draw attention to contextual factors, particularly the type of institutional arrangement, which, our observations suggest, shape disaster governance. We conclude with a call for further comparative research into the major disaster governance systems in a hazard environment in which large-scale disasters are becoming commonplace.
- The Megaregion – Forms, Functions, and Potential? A Literature Review and Proposal for Advancing Research
In: International Journal of Urban Sciences [Peer Reviewed]
Date: March 2023
The megaregion is viewed as a platform from which to address a variety of issues. Despite agreement that a megaregion is a large, globally connected urban agglomeration, there is no consensus as to how to delineate its boundaries and how it differs from other urban forms. The scholarly literature is dominated by three distinct analytic approaches: interdependent systems, nodal linkages, and satellite data. We assess the utility of each approach in delineating the boundaries of four megaregions – BosWash, Greater Tokyo, the Amsterdam-Brussels-Antwerp region, and a Global South megaregion – and conclude by proposing a sequence of steps to guide future research.