Mira Rapp-Hooper (born 1984) is an American

political scientist Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

who served as Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for East Asia and Oceania at the White House

National Security Council A national security council (NSC) is usually an executive branch governmental body responsible for coordinating policy on national security issues and advising chief executives on matters related to national security. An NSC is often headed by a n ...

(NSC) in the

Biden administration Joe Biden's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 46th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Joe Biden, his inauguration on January 20, 2021, and ended on January 20, 2025. Biden, a member of the Democr ...

. She was the White House's top advisor for and responsible for coordinating US government policy towards the region. From 2021–2023 she served as Director for Indo-Pacific Strategy at the NSC where she was responsible for the White House's Indo-Pacific Strategy, the management of the Quad partnership among Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, and US-Japan-ROK trilateral relations, among other initiatives. In 2021 she briefly served at the

State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...

on the Secretary's Policy Planning Staff.

Education

She holds a B.A. in history from

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

from

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

. At Columbia she was research assistant to

Kenneth Waltz Kenneth Neal Waltz (; June 8, 1924 – May 12, 2013) was an American political scientist who was a member of the faculty at both the University of California, Berkeley, and Columbia University and one of the most prominent scholars in the field ...

, the founder of

structural realism Neorealism or structural realism is a theory of international relations that emphasizes the role of power politics in international relations, sees competition and conflict as enduring features and sees limited potential for cooperation. The ana ...

, and had

Robert Jervis Robert Jervis (April 30, 1940 – December 9, 2021) was an American political scientist who was the Adlai E. Stevenson Professor of International Politics in the Department of Political Science at Columbia University. Jervis was co-editor of the ...

, Virginia Page Fortna,

Richard K. Betts Richard Kevin Betts (born August 15, 1947) is an American political scientist and international relations scholar who centers on U.S. foreign policy. He is the Leo A. Shifrin Professor of War and Peace Studies Emeritus in the Department of Polit ...

, and

Andrew J. Nathan Andrew James Nathan (; born 3 April 1943) is a professor of political science at Columbia University. He specializes in Chinese politics, foreign policy, human rights and political culture. Nathan attended Harvard University, where he earned a ...

as advisors. Her dissertation was titled, "Absolute Alliances : Extended Deterrence in International Politics."

Career

Before joining the Biden administration, she worked at the

Center for a New American Security The Center for a New American Security (CNAS) is a think tank in Washington, D.C., specializing in United States national security issues, including terrorism, irregular warfare, the future of the U.S. military, the emergence of Asia as a global p ...

(CNAS) as a senior fellow in the Asia-Pacific Security Program, and at the

Center for Strategic and International Studies The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) is an American think tank based in Washington, D.C. From its founding in 1962 until 1987, it was an affiliate of Georgetown University, initially named the Center for Strategic and Inte ...

(CSIS) as a fellow and as director of CSIS' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. Rapp-Hooper was also Asia Policy Coordinator for the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. She was a

Foreign Policy Interrupted The organization Foreign Policy Interrupted (FPI) was launched in 2014 to address the disparity between female and male foreign policy expert representation in the media. According to the Op-Ed Project, in 2011, women authored only 19 percent of op ...

Fellow, and is a David Rockefeller Fellow of the Trilateral Commission and an Associate Editor with the International Security Studies Forum. Her 2021 appointment to the

Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs ...

was seen as part of the

's pivot to the

Indo-Pacific The Indo-Pacific is a vast biogeographic region of Earth. In a narrow sense, sometimes known as the Indo-West Pacific or Indo-Pacific Asia, it comprises the tropical waters of the Indian Ocean, the western and central Pacific Ocean, and the ...

. She has published in ''

Political Science Quarterly ''Political Science Quarterly'' is an American double blind peer-reviewed academic journal covering government, politics, and policy, published since 1886 by the Academy of Political Science. Its editor-in-chief is Robert Y. Shapiro (Columbia ...

'', ''

Security Studies __NOTOC__ Security studies, also known as international security studies, is an academic sub-field within the wider discipline of international relations that studies organized violence, military conflict, national security, and international s ...

'', and Survival (academic); ''

the National Interest ''The National Interest'' (''TNI'') is an American bimonthly international relations magazine edited by American journalist Jacob Heilbrunn and published by the Center for the National Interest, a public policy think tank based in Washington, ...

'', ''

Foreign Affairs ''Foreign Affairs'' is an American magazine of international relations and foreign policy of the United States, U.S. foreign policy published by the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonprofit organization, nonprofit, nonpartisan, membership or ...

'', and ''

The Washington Quarterly ''The Washington Quarterly'' (abbreviated as ''TWQ'') is a magazine of international affairs covering topics and issues concerning global security, diplomatic relations, and policy implications. Founded by the Center for Strategic and Internationa ...

'' (press). She is a regular journalistic source on Asia issues and has provided expert analysis to ''

the New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', and

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

and the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. Her book ''Shields of the Republic: The Triumph and Peril of America's Alliances'' (Harvard University Press, 2020) analyzes the history of and the challenges to the United States' system of alliances. Her second book, ''An Open World: How America Can Win the Contest for Twenty-First-Century Order'', co-authored with Rebecca Lissner, was published in December 2020 by Yale University Press.

Publications

Saving America's Alliances
, ''Foreign Affairs'', March/April 2020 issue
Nuclear Stability on the Korean Peninsula
, ''Survival'', Volume 62, 2020, Issue 1 (with Adam Mount)
Presidential Alliance Powers
, ''The Washington Quarterly'', Volume 42, 2019, Issue 2 (with Matthew C. Waxman)
The Open World
, ''Foreign Affairs'', May/June 2019 issue (with Rebecca Friedman Lissner)
Mapping China's Health Silk Road
, Council on Foreign Relations Asia Unbound blog, April 10, 2020 (with Kirk Lancaster and Michael Rubin)

References

External links

Twitter page

CFR Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rapp-Hooper, Mira Living people American women political scientists American political scientists International relations scholars Stanford University alumni Columbia University alumni 1984 births 21st-century American women scientists American women in politics