Robert Sutter

Headshot of Robert Sutter

Robert Sutter

Professor of Practice of International Affairs


Contact:

Email: Robert Sutter
Office Phone: 202-994-5886
1957 E St. NW, Office #503K Washington, D.C. 20052

Robert Sutter is Professor of Practice of International Affairs at the Elliott School of George Washington University (2011-Present ). He also served as Director of the School’s main undergraduate program involving over 2,000 students from 2013-2019. He has served as Special Adviser to the Dean on Strategic Outreach (2021-present). His earlier full-time position was Visiting Professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University (2001-2011).

A Ph.D. graduate in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University, Sutter has published 23 books (four with multiple editions), over 300 articles and several hundred government reports dealing with contemporary East Asian and Pacific countries and their relations with the United States. His most recent books are Chinese Foreign Relations: Power and Policy of an Emerging Global Force, Fifth Edition (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), US-China Relations: Perilous Past, Uncertain Present, Fourth Edition (Rowman & Littlefield 2022), and Congress and China Policy: Past Episodic, Recent Enduring Influence (Lexington Books, 2024)

Sutter’s government career (1968-2001) saw service as senior specialist and director of the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division of the Congressional Research Service, the National Intelligence Officer for East Asia and the Pacific at the US Government’s National Intelligence Council, the China division director at the Department of State’s Bureau of Intelligence and Research and professional staff member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.


U.S.-China relations; China’s rise-domestic and international implications; Chinese foreign relations; Contemporary U.S. policy toward Asia and the Pacific; Political, security and economic development in Asia and the Pacific; History of China; History of Japan; Taiwan – internal and international affairs. US foreign policymaking and the role of Congress.

Ph.D., Harvard University

Regular offerings

IAFF 2091 East Asia: Past and Present

IAFF 2190W The United States and Asia: Critical Issues

IAFF 3182 China's Rise and Implications

IAFF 3186 US-China Relations

Occasional offerings

IAFF 2190W Congress and U.S. Foreign Policy

PSC 2475 International Relations of East Asia

IAFF 3186 Asian Security

IAFF 3186 Taiwan: Internal Developments and Foreign Policy

IAFF 6302 Taiwan: Internal Developments and Foreign Policy

PSC 6346 U.S. Foreign Policy Makings: Process and Issues

PSC 6372 Foreign Policy of China

PSC 6467 Asian Security

PSC 6475 International Politics – East Asia