Robert E. Bedeski, Ph.D.
Board Member
Robert E. Bedeski (born 1937, Detroit, Michigan) is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, where he served on the faculty from 1989 until his retirement in 2004. He earned his Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley (1969). A former U.S. Army serviceman (1958–1962) with assignments in Korea and Taiwan, he held the rank of SP5 in the Army Security Agency (MOS 058, Morse code intercept). He speaks Mandarin Chinese at a near-professional level.
Professor Bedeski has held distinguished appointments including Visiting Aung San Suu Kyi Endowed Chair in Asian Democracy at the University of Louisville (2008–2009) and Affiliate Professor at the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington. He is the former President of the Japan Studies Association of Canada and served as President of the Asian Politics and History Association until 2025. He has been awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Mongolian Academy of Science and received the Presidential Medal of Mongolia.
He has long been active in the International Society for the Comparative Study of Civilizations (ISCSC), serving as Program Chair for the 2025 ISCSC Conference and currently as Program Chair for the 2026 Conference in Mongolia.
His scholarship spans China, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and Mongolia, with a central research focus on the evolution of the nation-state in Asia and the application of Western political thought to Asian historical development. His current work explores the relationship between the modern state and human existence, including his forthcoming book Apotheosis of the State and the Decline of Civilization: Eurasia and America.
Recent publications include Prolonging Existence: Lessons from Genghis Khan and a Theory of Life Security (2018); Dynamics of the Korean State: From the Paleolithic to Candlelight Democracy (2021); and “How the State Replaces Civilization: The Japanese Exception,” Comparative Civilizations Review 92(1) (2025).
He lives in Oro Valley, Arizona (469 W. Sunview Dr., Oro Valley, AZ 85755).
