Dr. Volker Stanzel

About Volker Stanzel

Volker Stanzel is a retired German diplomat and served as Ambassador to Japan (2009-13); Political Director (2007-09); Ambassador to China (2004-07); Director-General Political Affairs (2002-04); Director Asian and Pacific Affairs (2001-02); Director Department for Non-Proliferation and Civilian Use of Nuclear Energy (1999-2001). He was a Visiting Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, Washington (1998/99) and Foreign Policy Adviser to the Social Democratic Party of Germany (1995-98). Since retiring, Stanzel taught International Politics in 2014 at Claremont McKenna College and at the University of California Santa Cruz; since 2015 he is Council Member and Senior Advisor to the European Council on Foreign Relations, Senior Advisor to the German Marshall Fund of the United States, a Senior Dinstinguished Fellow at the German Institute for International Politics and Security, and Visiting Professional Fellow at Free University Berlin. He is on the Board of the Academic Confucius Institute at Goettingen University and of the German-Japan Business Association.Stanzel holds a Ph.D. in Japanese Studies, Sinology and Political Science from Cologne University and publishes on East Asian and other political topics.