Elizabeth Van Wie DAVIS

Professor
Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences

BIOGRAPHY

Dr. Elizabeth Van Wie Davis has lived and worked in Asia for many years, primarily in China, Kazakhstan and Southeast Asia. During her time at Johns Hopkins University SAIS, she met former President George H W Bush on a few occasions regarding China issues. Her work on security issues and on energy and environmental policies includes field work and publications on Europe, China, Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, and the Central Asian republics.

After 17 years in academia, Dr. Davis took a hiatus to work for the US Government on issues related to Asia. Based in Hawaii, she travelled regularly to Asia to work on issues of preventive diplomacy. These USG projects included discussions on China with Pakistan, aiding Bangladesh during a difficult political time, and working with the Nepalese officials during the transition from monarchy to representative democracy as well as a citation for her work on the EP3 incident. Simultaneous to these on-the- ground projects, Dr. Davis maintained a rigorous academic agenda that including briefing US senators and congressmen, top US military officers, and foreign government officials on issues related to China and Asia. During her years at Mines, Dr. Davis has continued her work on policy issues related to energy and to share her love and knowledge of Asia.

Dr. Davis is completing her fifth book NON-WAR WARFARE: CYBERWAR POLICY IN THE US, CHINA AND RUSSIA. This books follows her books on RULING, RESOURCES AND RELIGION IN CHINA (2012), ISLAM, OIL AND GEOPOLITICS (2007), CHINESE PERSPECTIVES ON SINO-AMERICAN RELATIONS (2000), and CHINA AND THE LAW OF THE SEA CONVENTION: FOLLOW THE SEA (1995). She has published over 50 articles and reviews in notable journals. 

Education

• BA in Liberal Arts, Shimer College, 1974-77
• MA in Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia, 1981-83
• PhD in Foreign Affairs, University of Virginia, 1983-85

Research

• Cyberwarfare policy
• Security policy
• Energy & environmental policies
• Asian politics
• International relations

Publications

• Books

  NON-WAR WARFARE: CYBERWAR POLICY IN THE US, CHINA AND RUSSIA, in progress. Assesses the role of new technologies—with cyber wars, drones and robots—in the changing status of conflict starting from Sun Tzu to the current day concerns.

  RULING, RESOURCES AND RELIGION IN CHINA (London: Palgrave, 2012) Offers insight into China’s future policy that will have global repercussions: issues include governance concerns, ethnic minorities, religious diversity, and access to resources. (Nominated for the Association for Asian Studies CIAC Levenson prize for books in Chinese Studies, 2013)

  ISLAM, OIL AND GEOPOLITICS (Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield, 2007)  Analyses the intriguing issues of Islam, oil and geopolitics in Central Asia from multiple perspectives. Co-edited with R. Azizian (Recommended must-read by Oxford Bibliographies.)

  CHINESE PERSPECTIVES ON SINO-AMERICAN RELATIONS (Lewiston, NY: Mellen Press, 2000 Addresses a fundamental question – “What accounts for the many episodes of crisis and conflict in U.S.-China relations over the last fifty-five years; when cooperation has occurred, what conditions made that possible?”  Editor

  CHINA AND THE LAW OF THE SEA CONVENTION: FOLLOW THE SEA (Lewiston, NY: Mellen Press, 1995) Presents the first comprehensive overview and analysis of the Law of the Sea Treaty and the application to and involvement of China.  

       Selected Articles

  “Chinese Islam in the City” ASIA DIALOGUE (June 18, 2018)

  “Don’t Underestimate North Korea’s Cyber Efforts” FAIR OBSERVER (March 21, 2018)

  “Cyber Non-War War: Perspectives from the U.S., Russia, and China” ISSUES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Pending)

  “China’s Cyberwarfare Finds New Targets” FAIR OBSERVER (October 27, 2017)

  “Islam in Xinjiang” CHINA POLICY INSTITUTE: ANALYSIS (June 19, 2017)

  “China to Rule the Seas—Unmanned” with M. Albert ASIA TIMES ONLINE (December 6, 2012)

   “Moderating Political Islam in Central Asia” with M. Albert FAIR OBSERVER (2012)

   “Tibetan Separatism in China” KOREAN JOURNAL OF DEFENSE ANALYSIS Vol. 21, Issue 2 (2009)

   “China’s Governance Issues in 2010” ASIAN AFFAIRS: An American Review (Winter 2008-09): 195-211

   “China Confronts its Uyghur Threat” ASIA TIMES ONLINE (April 18, 2008)

  “Terrorism and the Beijing Olympics: Uyghur Discontent” CHINA BRIEF Vol. 8, Issue 8 (April 14, 2008)

  “Uyghur Muslim Separatism in Xinjiang, China” in ASIAN AFFAIRS: An American Review (Spring 2008): 15-30 <Over 7,000 hits a month 

  “A Nuclear Armed Korea as a Factor in Sino-American Relations,” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF KOREAN STUDIES Vol. XI, No. 1 (Summer 2007): 145-166

   “Terrorism, Geopolitics and Multinational Security Cooperation in Central Asia” with R. Azizian AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ISLAMIC STUDIES (2006): 149-151

  “New Perceptions of the International System After 9/11” in POLITICAL SCIENCE AND CHINA IN TRANSITION v. IV (Beijing: Renmin University, July 2002): 1-13                                                           

  “ASEAN Perspectives Toward the Global Environment” (in Chinese) WORLD ENVIRONMENT vol. 5 (2002): 11-14

  “Security Institutions & Policy-Making Processes in the Asia Pacific Region” CURRENTS (Spring 2001): 14

  “China” in DOMESTIC DETERMINANTS OF SECURITY (2001)

  “EU Perspectives Toward the Global Environment” (in Chinese) SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL (November 2000): 44-49

  “U.S. Perspectives on the Global Environment” (published in Chinese) WORLD ENVIRONMENT QUARTERLY (Spring 2000): 6-9

  “Perilous Seas? European Union Pollution Policies,” MEDITERRANEAN QUARTERLY (Spring 1998): 92-109

  “An Island Alone: Taiwan and the Asian Arms Race,” THE JOURNAL OF EAST ASIAN POLITICS v. XI, n. 2 (1997): 497-536

  “Structuring An Asian Pacific Foreign Policy,” with C. Parodi & E. Rexford JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY ASIA v. 26, n. 3 (1996): 392-404

  “Global Conflicts in Marine Pollution: The Asian Pacific,” THE JOURNAL OF EAST ASIAN POLITICS v. X, n. 1 (Winter/Spring 1996): 192-222

  “Who Rules the Waves? The Arms Race on the Pacific Rim,” ASIAN AFFAIRS v. XXVI, Part III (1995): 291-304

  “The Silent Demise of Democracy: The Clinton Administration and the 1994 Yemeni Civil War,” with C. Parodi & E. Rexford ARAB STUDIES QUARTERLY (1994): 65-76

  “China Looks to the Seas: Contemporary Chinese Policy” VCAS OCCASIONAL PAPERS v. VI (1989)       

  “Frozen Perceptions:  The Cold War in Asia” VCAS OCCASIONAL PAPERS v. IV (1987)

  Book Chapters

  “China and Tibet,” in CHINA’S FRONTIER REGIONS: ETHNICITY, ECONOMIC INTEGRATION AND FOREIGN RELATIONS edited by Michael Clarke & Douglas Smith (London : I.B. Tauris, 2016)

  “Minority Unrest and Security in China” in CHINA AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY, edited by Donovan Chau et al (New York: Praeger, 2014)

  “Retribution and Retaliation: Uyghur Separatism and Chinese Security in Xinjiang” in FIXING FRACTURED NATIONS, edited by Ehsan Ahrari & Robert Wirsing (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2010)

  “China, After 1945” in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF WESTERN COLONIALISM SINCE 1450, edited by Thomas Benjamin (Detroit: Macmillan Reference, 2006)

  “China in the Asia-Pacific” in US & RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVES ON THE ASIA-PACIFIC, edited by Boris Reznik & Rouben Azizian (Vladivostok: Far Eastern National University, 2005) in Russian and (Honolulu: APCSS, 2005) in English.

  “Beijing Spring” in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINESE-AMERICAN RELATIONS, edited by Song Yuwu (New York: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005)

   “Domino Theory” in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINESE-AMERICAN RELATIONS, edited by Song Yuwu (New York: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005)

   “Permanent Normal Trading Relations” in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINESE-AMERICAN RELATIONS, edited by Song Yuwu (New York: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005)

   “Wen Jiabao” in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINESE-AMERICAN RELATIONS, edited by Song Yuwu (New York: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005)

   “World Trade Organization” in ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CHINESE-AMERICAN RELATIONS, edited by Song Yuwu (New York: McFarland & Company, Inc., 2005)

  “Hu Yaobang” ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MODERN ASIA (presented the RUSA award, Choice Outstanding Academic Reference Titles for 2003, Booklist/Reference Books Bulletin Editor’s Choice Reference Titles for 2003, Library Journal’s Best Reference Source for 2002, ALA Outstanding Reference Source Awards 2002) (2002)

  “The Problem With Marine Oil Pollution” in AMERICAN MORAL AND POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN THE THIRD WORLD, edited by Kenneth W Thompson (Boulder: Rowman & Littlefield, 1985