Social Sciences

Keita Omi is an assistant professor for the social and political science programme. Omi’s projects are focused on five research areas: (1) U.S. foreign policy and national security policies; (2) the role of comparative political ethnographer; (3) Asia’s transforming politics; (4) ideological underpinnings and sources of the political infrastructure in Asia, and (5) political science pedagogy. His research makes use of the mixed method tools of social sciences. He has taught courses on international relations, comparative politics, intelligence studies, globalization, political psychology, and research methods. He holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Utah. He also received his Master of Arts in political science from San Francisco State University in California and his Bachelor in computer science from Reitaku University in Japan.

Overview:

My research investigates presidential/executive politics in the United States with a comparative method. The current dissertation research that I am working on examines why secret decisions are made at the top of the government hierarchy by leaders who are relatively free from bureaucratic constraints and whether they vary from one American presidency to another. A developing research agenda analyzes how American covert statecraft is formed and what role secrecy or deception plays in the formation of American statecraft.

Research on American Statecraft:

In my dissertation, tentatively titled, “The Logic of Covert Statecraft: A Cross Presidential Study of American Presidential Decision Directives Documents,” I theorize the concept of secrecy that plays a significant role of government statecraft. My study relies on a qualitative content analysis of presidential documents for the identification of operational codes of American statecraft. The data sources for foreign policy decision makers include 1,357 presidential documents, especially decision directive documents (272 NSAMs during Kennedy administration, 100 NSAMs Johnson administration, 264 NSDMs during Nixon administration, 84 NSDMs during Ford administration, 63 PDs during Carter administration, 325 NSDDs during Reagan administration, 79 NSDs during George H.W. Bush administration, 75 PDDs during Clinton administration, 66 NSPDs during GW Bush administration, 30 PPDs during Obama administration) from 1961 through 2015. I coded these documents by hand and currently developing and testing my arguments and hypotheses about presidential unilateral power, collective action issues, coordination issues, public opinion, and government elite behaviors. I plan on expanding this project by leveraging cutting-edge methods in computer science, coding text-as-data with supervised and unsupervised machine learning.

Future Research:

Does a manual coding by human beings differ from textual analysis with supervised machine learning techniques? If so, to what extent and how? These are the questions that occurred to me when I completed the manual coding of over 1,000 presidential documents for my dissertation project with a decent coding manual and by trusting all my six senses (taste, sight, touch, smell, hearing, and the sixth sense). I had a concern that a sole reliance on a manual coding approach may increase the risks of building theories based on my poor understanding and unfamiliarity of individual executive cases; that is coding one document wrong could lead to a completely different picture of the puzzle I am trying to elucidate. In the field of computer science, there are many research conducted about Natural Language Processing (NLP). This research scholarship is developing text analysis methods with both unsupervised and supervised machine learning techniques. Research findings from the subfield of computer science would provide an better method for answering my future research questions above. I hope my future research will bring the two fields, political science and computer science, closer, generating more interdisciplinary studies.

Book Reviews:

SINGLE AUTHOR

• Tim Büthe & Walter Mattli, The New Global Rulers: The Privatization of Regulation in the World Economy, Princeton University Press, 2011., The Journal of American and Canadian Studies. (March 2022)
• Davide Rodogno, Against Massacre: Humanitarian Interventions in the Ottoman Empire, 1815-1914, Princeton University Press, 2011., Reitaku International Journal of Economic Studies. (March 2022)
• Raheel Dhattiwala, Keeping the Peace: Spatial Differences in Hinduism and Muslim Violence in Gujarat in 2002, Cambridge University Press, 2019., Asian Studies. (April 2020)
• Book Review: Theodora Dragostinova, Between Two Motherlands: Nationality and Emigration among the Greeks of Bulgaria, 1900-1949, Cornell University Press, 2011., Journal for the Comparative Study of Civilizations. (November 2017)
• Book Review: Peter Trubowitz, Politics and Strategy: Partisan Ambition and American Statecraft, Princeton University Press, 2011., Reitaku Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies. (March 2017)

Book Translation:

SINGLE AUTHOR

• Helen Mears, Year of the Wild Boar: An American Woman in Japan, Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, 1942. (Under Review)

Commentaries:

SINGLE AUTHOR

• Keita Omi, “Kaleidoscope.” North Asia University Essay Award, Honorable Mention, August 2017.
• Keita Omi, “Another History.” Japan Council of Organizations for Young Workers, Honorable Mention, August 2017.
• Keita Omi, “My Career in Political Science.” Japan Council of Organizations for Young Workers, Honorable Mention, September 2015.
• Keita Omi and Dalton Edwards, “Shukan and Abundance in the U.S. Japan Relations: A Future of Diplomacy.” Trans-Pacific Student Contest, Global Ethics Network of Carnegie Council, April 2015.

Presentations:

• “US Policy Decision Directives, 1961 - 2022,” at Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) April 13-16, 2023, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.

• “Taking Mears More Seriously,” at International Studies Association (ISA) March 15 - 18, 2023, Montreal, Canada.

• “How to Navigate Undergraduate Students in Statistics and R Programming? Use Duplication/Replication Pedagogy: A Case in India,” at International Studies Association (ISA) March 15 - 18, 2023, Montreal, Canada.

• “Managing Cyber Security Under Restraints - Comprehensive Cyber Security or Reluctant Realism?”, at International Studies Association (ISA) March 28th - April 2nd, 2022, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A.
• “Analyzing Government Secrecy: Application of Text Analysis with Machine Learning to Presidential Policy Directives (PDDs)”, at International Studies Association (ISA) in Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A. (Canceled)
• “Case Study on U.S. Civil Defense Policy: A Cross-Presidential Analysis of U.S. Presidential Decision Directives (PDDs)”, at International Studies Association (ISA) Asia-Pacific in Singapore.
• Midwest Political Science Association (MPSA) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. PRESENTER April, 2012, 2016, 2017
• Does Secrecy Matter for American Statecraft? A Cross-Presidential Study of Executive Orders, Junior Scholar Symposium (JSS): Politics of Unilateral Power, Disc, Michelle H. Belco (University of Houston) and Ian Ostrander (Michigan State University).
• The Assumption of Consciousness in Interpretive Political Science: A Critique, Panel: Issues in Political Theory: Emotions, Knowledge, Rhetoric, Consciousness, and Cooperation, Chair (Disc), Anna P. Durnová, (Yale University).
• Covert Statecraft and American Foreign Policy Executives: A Cross-Presidential Study of Executive Orders, Section: 48 Presidency and Executive Politics, Session: 9 Presidential Foreign Policy.
• Covert Action and the American Presidency: The Relationship Between Decision-Making for Covert Operations and Presidential Popularity During the Reagan Administration, Section: 19 Foreign Policy, Session: Voting Behavior and Foreign Policy.

• POLS2100 - Introduction to International Relations
• POLS3001 - Political Analysis (Research Methods)
• POLS3960 - Government Secrecy and Intelligence Studies
• FND101 - Foundation Studio on Democracy and Justice
• SPS250 - Introduction to International Relations
• SPS255 - Introduction to Comparative Politics
• STA244 - Computational Methods for Social Sciences
• SPS261 - Government Secrecy and Intelligence Studies
• SPS303 - Locating Globalization
• SPS353 - Political Psychology
• RES101 - Introduction to Research Methodology

• 2023-2024 Consulate General of Japan in Mumbai ($365)
• 2021-2022 Japan Foundation, New Delhi ($4,000)
• 2019-2020 Japan Foundation, New Delhi ($4,000)
• 2017 Graduate School, Conference Travel Fund ($500) Salt Lake City, UT
• 2016-2017 Graduate School, University Teaching Assistantship (UTA) ($22,700) Salt Lake City, UT
• 2016 Graduate School, Conference Travel Fund ($500) Salt Lake City, UT
• 2012-2013 Asia Center, Instructor Assistantship for CLAC ($10,500) Salt Lake City, UT
• 2011-2012 Political Science Department, Teaching Assistantship ($27,000) Salt Lake City, UT
• 2012 Hashi Organization, Student Essay Award ($1,000) Los Angeles, CA
• 2011 International Center, Nagoya Television Fund ($5,000) Salt Lake City, UT
• 2011-2012 Political Science Department, Teaching Assistantship ($27,000) Salt Lake City, UT
• 2010-2011 Political Science Department, Grading Assistantship ($19,000) Salt Lake City, UT
• 2007 Japanese Student Network, Student Essay Award ($200) Los Angeles, CA

• Ahmedabad University Ahmedabad, Gujarat, INDIA
  ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DIVISION OF SOCIAL SCIENCES, SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES January 2019 - Present
• Asia Center and Henry Luce Foundation Utah, U.S.A
  SCHOLARLY SERVICE PROVIDER IN MYANMAR May 2017 - June. 2017
  • Guest lectures (International Relations, International Political Economy, Security Studies, Foreign Policy Studies) in the department of international relations at the University of Yangon
  • Invited talks (Security Studies, Foreign Policy Studies, Research Methods) at the Tagaung Institute of Political Studies (TIPS)
  • Meeting at the Enlightened Myanmar Research Foundation (EMReF) about future research collaborations
• Department of Political Science, University of Utah Utah, U.S.A.
  INSTRUCTOR May 2014 - May 2017
  • POLS 3960 - Government Secrecy and Intelligence Studies
  • POLS 2100 - Introduction to International Relations
  • POLS 3001 - Political Analysis (Research Methods)
• Department of Political Science, University of Utah Utah, U.S.A.
  GRADER, TEACHING ASSISTANT August 2010 - May 2013
  • POLS 2100 - Introduction to International Relations
  • POLS 1100 - U.S. National Government
• Asia Center, University of Utah Utah, U.S.A.
  JAPANESE LANGUAGE INSTRUCTOR, CULTURES AND LANGUAGES ACROSS CURRICULUM (CLAC) August 2014 - May 2017
  The class I covered includes Japanese Civilization, Contemporary Japanese Literature, Modern Japanese Literature in Translation, Pre-Modern Japan, Japan’s Aging Society, Japanese Anime, Politics and Governments of Pacific Rim Nations, International Relations of East Asia. I taught the Japanese section of Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum (CLAC) for the College of Humanities and the Asia Center.
• Wolf of Vengeance (Film Director: Masakazu Higuchi) Utah, U.S.A.
  TRANSLATOR AT FILM QUEST FESTIVAL September 9-11, 2017
• Spicysoft Corporation and the VOID Utah, U.S.A.
  MEDIA INTERVIEW INTERPRETER June 2016
• University of Utah and Japan Women’s University Utah, U.S.A. & Tokyo, Japan
  INTERPRETER FOR THE COLLEGE OF SOCIAL WORK March 2014, 2015, 2018
• Tokyo Academics Tokyo, Japan
  FREELANCE ONLINE JAPANESE TUTOR January 2015 - January 2019
• Nichi Bei Times (Japanese American Newspaper) California, U.S.A.
  INTERN AT MARKETING DIVISION August 2009 to May 2010
• Japan Society of Northern California (Non-Profit Organization) California, U.S.A.
  INTERN AT PROGRAM MANAGEMENT DIVISION May 2006 to August 2006