Emanuel Pastreich

Emanuel Pastreich (born October 16, 1964) is an American professor, director, and polyglot who is an international relations expert and serves as the president of The Asia Institute, a think tank with offices in Washington DC, Tokyo, Seoul, and Hanoi.

Pastreich was briefly an independent candidate for president of the United States in 2020. In September 2023, Pastreich officially became a candidate for the Green Party's presidential nomination for 2024 but had to abandon the campaign for the Green nomination because of a failure to gain financial support within the party. However, he has continued his candidacy as an Independent. He currently serves as director of the Center for Truth Politics at Green Liberty. Trained as a scholar of Asian studies, Pastreich writes on both East Asian classical literature and current issues in international relations and technology in multiple languages. He studied abroad at National Taiwan University in 1985. Pastreich obtained an M.A. in comparative literature at the University of Tokyo in 1991, where he wrote the master's dissertation entirely in Japanese. He then received a Ph.D. in East Asian studies from Harvard University in 1998.

Work Pastreich is president of The Asia Institute, a think tank that conducts research on the intersection of international relations, the environment and technology in East Asia. George Washington University, and the College of International Studies, Kyung Hee University. He also worked as an advisor for international relations to the governor of Chungnam Province (2007–2008) and conducted numerous research projects with Korean science institutes.

His best-known book is I Shall Fear No Evil (2020) which consists of a series of major speeches from his 2020 presidential campaign. The speeches touch on economic, security and social problems within the context of America's historical evolution, drawing on wisdom gathered from Western and Eastern political philosophy to address current social contradictions. His other writings in English include the books The Novels of Park Jiwon: Translations of Overlooked Worlds, a collection of novels by a Korean pre-modern author, The Visible Vernacular: Vernacular Chinese and the Emergence of a Literary Discourse on Popular Narrative in Edo Japan, a study of the reception of Chinese vernacular literature in Japan, Earth Management: A Dialogue on Ancient Korean Wisdom and its Lessons for a New Earth, and his autobiographical novel Wrestling with Shadows.

His eight books in Korean include Life is a Matter of Direction, not Speed: A Robinson Crusoe in Korea, a description of his experiences living in Korea; Scholars of the World Speak out About Korea's Future, a series of interviews with leading scholars such as Francis Fukuyama, Larry Wilkerson and Noam Chomsky about contemporary Korea;

His books in Japanese include A Farewell to Arms, a call for a radical revision of security policy in light of the destruction of the environment, and Japan jinxed by COVID-19, a brutal assessment of the new political environment for Japan after the onset of COVID-19.

Personal life Pastreich was born in 1964 to symphony manager Peter Pastreich and painter Marie Louise Rouff. He has three siblings, including Michael Pastreich, Anna Schlagel, and Milena Pastreich. Pastreich has two children. His wife of twenty-five years, Seung-Eun Yi Pastreich, died in 2022.

Published works

Books

English books The Novels of Park Jiwon: Translations of Overlooked Worlds "Korona tatari ni madou nihon" (Japan Jinxed by COVID19) (2023) Tokyo: Design Egg.

Chinese books Kuahai qiuzhen: Hafo boshi lun zhongmei weilai (Searching for the Truth on Both Sides of the Ocean) (2016). Hong Kong: Milky Way Publishers. . (in Chinese) "Weilai zhongguo: guanyu renlei yu diqiu mingyun (Future China: The Destiny of Humanity and the Earth) (2019). Hong Kong: Xiandai wenhua. Wo Juebu weiju xiee: Meiguode zongtong daxuan weihe yiding yaoyou zhenzhengde duli canxuanren canyu (I Shall Fear No Evil: Why America's Presidential Election must include a truly independent candidate) (2020). Beijing: The Asia Institute. Ruhe tuifan fuhao jieceng: shiyi zhang xingdong gangyao (How to overthrow the Billionaires: Eleven Chapters outlining action) (2022). Beijing: The Asia Institute.

Articles A list of articles published online by Pastreich can be found on this web page .