Biography
Sean Kenji (賢司) Starrs joined the Department of International Development in September 2022. From 2014-2021 he was at the Department of Asian and International Studies at City University of Hong Kong. He was also a visiting assistant professor at the Center for International Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and received his PhD at York University, Toronto, under the late (and great) Leo Panitch. Sean is the love-child of globalization, being born in Vancouver to a British father, Japanese mother and having also lived in the United States, Denmark, Japan, New Zealand, and Hong Kong. He does not regret abandoning his dream of becoming an archaeologist.
He has written for and/or been cited/interviewed by Bloomberg News, CNN, The Financial Times, Politico, South China Morning Post, local Hong Kong radio and TV, Voice of America, Jacobin, The Real News, Washington Post, among others, on many topics ranging from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests to Oxfam’s report on inequality, Marxism in China to Brexit, US hegemony to the capitalist rise of China. Noam Chomsky has claimed Sean is “one of the most important political economists in the world”, and cites his work often, including in The Economist and Truthdig.
Research interests
- The Capitalist Rise of China and BRICS+
- US Hegemony and World Order
- Techno-Nationalism (especially regarding semiconductors) and (De)Globalization
- East Asian Political Economy and the Developmental State
- State Theory, Geopolitics of Capital, and Critical Political Economy
Teaching
- 6YYD0037 & 7YYDN050 The Rise of China in Global Capitalism (UG3 & PGT)
- 7YYDN002 States, Markets & the Institutional Basis of Growth
PhD supervision
Sean will supervise PhD candidates on the research topics mentioned above, especially the capitalist rise of China, US hegemony, BRICS+, and critical political economy.
Current supervisees:
- Xinzhe Zhang (China vs US in Semiconductors)
- Simon Nasr (China vs US in Middle East)
- Peiwen Xiong, Winner of LISS-DTP (China vs US in Semiconductors)
Research
The International Political Economy Research Group
International Political Economy research group focuses on the examination of contemporary socioeconomic and political dynamics of crisis and limitations of European and global order.
Global Production, Finance and Labour research group
A multidisciplinary research group dealing with global production, labour, money and finance within the Department of International Development at the School of Global Affairs, King's College London.
Climate, Environment, and Uneven Development research group
This group focuses on the critical study of the processes that drive and link social and ecological change in the contemporary world, with special attention to the climate crisis and its multiple social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions.
Global Capitalism, Power & Uneven Development research group
We study the many ways in which the world-system unevenly constrains and drives development everywhere, with its persistent structural hierarchies, dependencies, contradictions, and unequal power relations between classes, ethnicities, genders, races, and states.
News
Reliance on superpowers leaves key UK industry exposed to trade war
The UK’s multibillion-pound semiconductor industry risks being entangled in an escalating global trade war between China and the United States.
Project team contribute to parliamentary report on crucial technology sector
Members of a research project which focusses on the changing dynamics of global supply chains contributed to a major new report on the semiconductor industry...
Events
Book Talk on “Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market” with Adam Hanieh
Discussion with Adam Hanieh about his new book, Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market
Research
The International Political Economy Research Group
International Political Economy research group focuses on the examination of contemporary socioeconomic and political dynamics of crisis and limitations of European and global order.
Global Production, Finance and Labour research group
A multidisciplinary research group dealing with global production, labour, money and finance within the Department of International Development at the School of Global Affairs, King's College London.
Climate, Environment, and Uneven Development research group
This group focuses on the critical study of the processes that drive and link social and ecological change in the contemporary world, with special attention to the climate crisis and its multiple social, economic, political, and cultural dimensions.
Global Capitalism, Power & Uneven Development research group
We study the many ways in which the world-system unevenly constrains and drives development everywhere, with its persistent structural hierarchies, dependencies, contradictions, and unequal power relations between classes, ethnicities, genders, races, and states.
News
Reliance on superpowers leaves key UK industry exposed to trade war
The UK’s multibillion-pound semiconductor industry risks being entangled in an escalating global trade war between China and the United States.
Project team contribute to parliamentary report on crucial technology sector
Members of a research project which focusses on the changing dynamics of global supply chains contributed to a major new report on the semiconductor industry...
Events
Book Talk on “Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market” with Adam Hanieh
Discussion with Adam Hanieh about his new book, Crude Capitalism: Oil, Corporate Power, and the Making of the World Market