Research Fellow

Sam Baron

Policy Fellow

Sam Baron is the inaugural Policy Fellow at the Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies (YCAPS). A foreign policy analyst who works at the nexus of economic and human rights issues in Asia, he has held a number of policy-focused roles working on the ASEAN region with organizations including the United Nations, the U.S. State Department, and The Asia Group. Concurrent to his appointment at YCAPS, Sam is also a Visiting Researcher with the Research Center for Sustainable Peace (RCSP) at the University of Tokyo, a Non-Resident Scholar with Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA’s “US-Japan NEXT Alliance Initiative”, and an Associated Research Fellow with the Institute for Security and Development Policy (ISDP) in Stockholm, Sweden.   His research and commentary on Myanmar and Southeast Asia regularly appears in international and regional media outlets including The South China Morning Post, The Nikkei Asian Review, The Japan Times, Asia Times, The National Interest, and Radio Free Asia, among others. His other research interests include U.S.-Japan relations, the intersection of business and human rights, and issues pertaining to public international law in East and Southeast Asia. Sam holds an M.Phil in International Relations (with distinction) from the University of Cambridge (St John's College). He is originally from Los Angeles, California.