Research Interests

Dr. Solis’ research interests include comparative and international political economy, comparative studies of regional integration, trade policy, and Japanese politics and foreign economic policy. Her current research project focuses on East Asian regionalism, with a special emphasis on Japan’s new policy to negotiate preferential trade agreements.

Selected Publications

• Banking on Multinationals: Public Credit and the Export of Japanese Sunset Industries. 2004. Stanford: Stanford University Press.       
• Cross-Regional Trade Agreements: Understanding Permeated Regionalism in East Asia. 2008. Co-edited with Saori Katada. Berlin: Springer. The Political Economy of Asia-Pacific Series.      
• Competitive Regionalism: FTA Diffusion in the Pacific Rim. Co-edited with Saori Katada and Barbara Stallings. Palgrave Macmillan (2009).       
• "Global economic crisis: boon or bust for East Asian trade integration?" 2011. The Pacific Review, vol. 24, no. 3:311-336.
• "Globalism ascendant, regionalism stagnant: Japan's response to the Global Financial Crisis. 2011. The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, vol. 6, nos. 1-2:37-61.
• "Can FTAs deliver market liberalization in Japan? A study on domestic political determinants," 2010. Review of International Political Economy, vol. 17, no. 2:209-237. 
• "Trading Gains for Control: International Trade Forums and Japanese Economic Diplomacy," 2007. Co-authored with Saadia Pekkanen and Saori Katada. International Studies Quarterly, vol. 51, no. 4: 945-970.
• "Understanding East Asian Cross-Regionalism: An Analytical Framework," 2007. Co-authored with Saori Katada. Pacific Affairs, vol. 80, no, 2: 229-257.
• "The Japan-Mexico FTA: A Cross-Regional Step in the Path towards Asian Regionalism," 2007. Co-authored with Saori Katada. Pacific Affairs, vol. 80, no. 2: 279-301.          
• "Japan's New Foreign Economic Policy: A Shift Toward a Strategic and Activist Model?" 2007. Co-authored with Shujiro Urata. Asian Economic Policy Review, vol. 2, pp. 227-245.   
• Under pressure: Japan's institutional response to regional uncertainty," Co-authored with Saori Katada, In Northeast Asian Regionalism: Ripe for Integration? edited by Vinod Aggarwal, Min Gyo Koo, Seungjoo Lee, and Chung-in Moon. Berlin: Springer, 2008.
• "Japan's new regionalism: The politics of free trade talks with Mexico," 2003. Journal of East Asian Studies 3, no. 3 (November-December): 377-404.
• "The Politics of Self-Restraint: FDI Subsidies and Japanese Mercantilism," 2003. The World Economy, vol. 26, no. 2, (February): 153-180.
• "The myth of the keiretsu network: Japanese electronics in North America," Business and Politics vol. 5, no. 3: 303-333.  

Honors, Awards, and Fellowships

• U.S.-Japan Network for the Future Fellow. Sponsored by the Mansfield Foundation and the Japan Foundation. 2010-2011.
• Abe Fellowship. Center for Global Partnership and SSRC. June 2005-May 2006.
• Young Scholar Award. Granted by the Association of Japanese Business Studies (AJBS). June 2002.
• U.S.-Japan Relations Program. Harvard University. Advanced Research Fellowship. September 2000-May 2001.
• Edwin O. Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies. Harvard University. Supplementary Dissertation Grant. 1997-98.
• Center for U.S-Mexican Studies, UCSD. Researcher in Residence Fellowship.  September 1996-June 1997.
• United Nations University/Institute of Advanced Studies. Ph.D. Fellowship. January-August, 1996.
• Mexican Government. CONACYT Scholarship. National Council on Science and Technology.  Ph.D. Fellowship. August 1991-September 1995.
• Fulbright Scholarship. 1989-1991.
• Ford Foundation Award. 1989-1991.
• Joseph Fletcher Award. Master’s Thesis. Regional Studies-East Asia Committee. Harvard University. June 1991.

Grants and Sponsored Research

• National Endowment for the Humanities grant for Japan's Preferential Trade Agreements Project, 2010-2011.   
• Intellectual exchange grant as Principal Investigator from the Center for Global Partnership for Competitive Regionalism Project, 2007.  
• Grant from the Japan-United States Friendship Commission for Competitive Regionalism Project, 2007.
• Grant from the Center for International Studies at USC for Competitive Regionalism Project, 2007.
• Grant from Waseda University for Competitive Regionalism Project, 2008.
• Research grant from the Center for International Studies at USC for East Asian Cross-Regionalism Project, 2005.