Chalmers Johnson Chalmers Ashby Johnson ( August 6 , 1931 – November 20 , 2010 ) was an American author and professor emeritus of the University of California , San Diego . He served in the Korean War , was a consultant for the CIA from 1967 to 1973 , and chaired the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of California , Berkeley from 1967 to 1972 . He was also president and co - founder with Steven Clemons of the Japan Policy Research Institute ( now based at the University of San Francisco ) , an organization promoting public education about Japan and Asia . He wrote numerous books including , most recently , three examinations of the consequences of American Empire : " Blowback " , " The Sorrows of Empire " , and " Nemesis : The Last Days of the American Republic " . A former cold war rior , his fears for the US changed : Biography . Johnson was born in 1931 in Phoenix , Arizona . He earned a BA in economics in 1953 and an M . A . and a Ph . D . in political science in 1957 and 1961 respectively . Both of his advanced degrees were from the University of California , Berkeley . Johnson met his wife Sheila , a junior at Berkeley , in 1956 , and they were married in Reno , Nevada in May 1957 . During the Korean War , Johnson served as a naval officer in Japan . He was the communications officer on a ship ( the LST 883 ) " tasked with ferrying Chinese prisoners of war from South Korea back to North Korean ports . " He taught political science at the University of California from 1962 until he retired from teaching in 1992 . He was best known early in his career for his scholarship on the subjects of China and Japan . Johnson set the agenda for 10 or 15 years in social science scholarship on China with his book on peasant nationalism . His book " MITI and the Japanese Miracle " , on the Japanese Ministry of International Trade and Industry was the preëminent study of the country ' s development and it created the subfield of what could be called , the political economy of development . He coined the term " developmental state " . As a public intellectual , he first led the " Japan revisionists " who critiqued American neoliberal economics with Japan as a model ; their arguments faded from view as the Japanese economy stagnated in the mid - 90s and beyond . During this period , Johnson acted as a consultant for the Office of National Estimates , part of the CIA , contributing to analysis of China and Maoism . Johnson was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1976 . He served as Director of the Center for Chinese Studies ( 1967 – 72 ) and Chair of the Political Science Department at Berkeley , and held a number of important academic posts in area studies . He was a strong believer in the importance of language and historical training for conducting serious research . Late in his career he became well known as a critic of " rational choice " approaches , particularly in the study of Japanese politics and political economy . Johnson is , perhaps , best known today as a sharp critic of American imperialism . His book " Blowback " ( 2000 ) won a prize in 2001 from the Before Columbus Foundation , and was re - issued in an updated version in 2004 . " Sorrows of Empire " , published in 2004 , updated the evidence and argument from " Blowback " for the post - 9 / 11 environment , and " Nemesis " concludes the trilogy . Johnson was featured as an expert talking head in the Eugene Jarecki - directed film " Why We Fight " , which won the 2005 Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival . In the past , Johnson has also written for the Los Angeles Times , the London Review of Books , Harper ’ s Magazine , and The Nation . The " Blowback " series . Johnson believed that the enforcement of American hegemony over the world constitutes a new form of global empire . Whereas traditional empires maintained control over subject peoples via colonies , since World War II the US has developed a vast system of hundreds of military bases around the world where it has strategic interests . A long - time Cold Warrior , he applauded the dissolution of the Soviet Union : " I was a cold warrior . There ' s no doubt about that . I believed the Soviet Union was a genuine menace . I still think so . " At the same time , however , he experienced a political awakening after the dissolution of the Soviet Union , noting that instead of demobilizing its armed forces , the US accelerated its reliance on military solutions to problems both economic and political . The result of this militarism ( as distinct from actual domestic defense ) is more terrorism against the U . S . and its allies , the loss of core democratic values at home , and an eventual disaster for the American economy . Of four books he wrote on this topic , the first three are referred to as The Blowback Trilogy : Chalmers Johnson summarized the intent of " Blowback " in the final chapter of " Nemesis " . Chalmers Johnson summarizes the intent of " The Sorrows of Empire " in the final chapter of " Nemesis " . Chalmers Johnson summarizes the intent of the book " Nemesis " . Johnson outlines how the United States can reverse American hegemony and preserve the American state . " Dismantling the Empire " was listed by the CIA in " The Intelligence Officer ' s Bookshelf : Intelligence in Recent Public Literature " , compiled and reviewed by Hayden B . Peake . Death . On November 20 , 2010 , Chalmers Johnson died after a long illness from complications of rheumatoid arthritis at his home in Cardiff - by - the - Sea .