Peter Banseok Kwon

Peter Banseok Kwon is Associate Professor of Strategy, Statecraft, and Political Economy in the School of Civic Leadership at The University of Texas at Austin, a National Security Fellow at the Clements Center for National Security, and Associate Director of UT Austin’s Asia Policy Program. He received his PhD in History and East Asian Languages from Harvard University. His research examines militarization, modernization, state-building, nationalism, and civil–military relations in Korea, East Asia, and from a comparative global perspective. He is the author of Cornerstone of the Nation: The Defense Industry and the Building of Modern Korea under Park Chung Hee (Harvard University Asia Center, 2024), which explores the early development of South Korea’s defense industry and its role in the country’s socioeconomic and military transformation. Kwon has held academic and research appointments at SUNY Albany, Harvard University, Korea National Defense University, Yonsei University, Seoul National University, and the Academy of Korean Studies, and previously served as a Fulbright U.S. Scholar in South Korea.