Max Warrack
Teaching Fellow in International Relations and East Asian Studies
Course Director of the International Politics and East Asia MA
Coordinator of MA Student Experience and Progression (MA CSEP)
Coordinator of the University of Warwick East Asia Study Group (EASG)
For teaching-related inquiries, please use my staff email address:
For student experience and progression-related inquires, please use the MA CSEP resource email address:
For EASG-related inquires, please use the EASG resource email address:
Advice and Feedback Hours:
Thursdays 12:30 - 14:30
Location: In-person at Room E1.24; and online through Microsoft Teams
University of Warwick (2023) Politics and International Studies PhD; University of Sheffield (2012) Japanese Studies MA; and University of Edinburgh (2011) History MA with Honours
My research explores the relationship between culture and politics, understanding political phenomena as expressions that can be traced back to changes in culture. I focus on media-entertainment as the most prominent cultural medium in contemporary civil societies, and therefore, the primary site where the ideas that shape politics are constituted. I have three lines of research: popular culture and world politics; international relations and security; and critical military studies. My primary case study is Japanese security policy, where I argue its new post-Cold War security trajectory expresses a cultural shift away from the ‘culture of antimilitarism’ established after World War Two, and towards a new emerging ‘culture of militarism’. My PhD project fused the three lines of research together in a discourse analysis on gendered representations of the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) in manga that re-establish the connection between masculinity and the military.
Recipient of Warwick Award for Teaching Excellence 2021 PGRLink opens in a new window
Fellow of Advance HE (FHEA)
N1 in the Japanese Language Proficiency Test
Recipient of the Sasakawa Japanese Studies Postgraduate Studentship Programme scholarship
Recipient of the British Association for Japan Studies John Crump Studentship
Recipient of Japanese Studies Grant from the Japan Foundation Endowment Committee
Publications
Warrack, M. (2025). Manga and militarism: rehabilitating military violence in Japan. The Pacific Review, 1-29 https://doi.org/10.1080/09512748.2025.2484343
Flipping a standard premise in the Japan security debate: Japan's culture resists remilitarisation, this article outlines a process of 'cultural remilitarisation' connected to manga (Japanese comics) that positively portray the JSDF enacting violence. It traces the industry-origins of the manga and illustrates (pun intended) how they frame JSDF violence as a legitimate tool of statecraft, presenting a cultural explanation for Japan's post-Cold War security trajectory.
Teaching
For the 2024/5 academic year, I am the Course Director for the International Politics and East Asia MA, and am the convenor for three related MA modules: PO920: International Relations of the Asia-Pacific, PO9B5: East Asian Development Policies, and PO9B4: East Asian Development: National and Regional Perspectives. I am also a seminar tutor for the undergraduate first-year module PO131: World Politics.
Administrative Duties
I am a Coordinator for MA Student Experience and Progression (MA CSEP).
I am the Coordinator of the East Asia Study Group (EASG)Link opens in a new window; a PAIS research and study group.
Advice and Feedback Hours
Advice and Feedback is available on Thursday between 12:30 and 14:30. They can be held in-person in my office (E1.24) or online through Microsoft Teams. They are available by appointment only. Appointments are arranged through the booking form 
Book time to meet with me. Please remember to specify whether you would prefer an in-person or online Advice and Feedback session.