Open AccessDissertation
Nationalism in Japan’s contemporary foreign policy: a consideration of the cases of China, North Korea, and India
TLDR
In this paper, the authors explored how political actors manipulated the concept of nationalism in foreign policy discourse and explored how the two administrations both used nationalism but in the pursuit of contrasting policies: an uncompromising stance to China and a conciliatory approach toward North Korea under the Koizumi administration, a hardline attitude against North Korea and the rapprochement with China by Abe, accompanied by a friendship-policy toward India.Abstract:
Under the Koizumi and Abe administrations, the deterioration of the Japan-China
relationship and growing tension between Japan and North Korea were often interpreted as
being caused by the rise of nationalism. This thesis aims to explore this question by looking at
Japan’s foreign policy in the region and uncovering how political actors manipulated the
concept of nationalism in foreign policy discourse. The methodology employs discourse
analysis on five case studies. It will be explored how the two administrations both used
nationalism but in the pursuit of contrasting policies: an uncompromising stance to China and
a conciliatory approach toward North Korea under the Koizumi administration, a hard-line
attitude against North Korea and the rapprochement with China by Abe, accompanied by a
friendship-policy toward India. These case studies show how the nationalism is used in the
competition between political leaders by articulating national identity in foreign policy.
Whereas this often appears as a kind of assertiveness from outside China, in the domestic
context leaders use nationalism to reconstruct Japan’s identity as a ‘peaceful nation’ through
foreign policy by highlighting differences from ‘other’s or by achieving historic reconciliation.
Such identity constructions are used to legitimize policy choices that are in themselves used to
marginalize other policy options and political actors. In this way, nationalism is utilized as a
kind of political capital in a domestic power relationship, as can be seen by Abe’s use of
foreign policy to set an agenda of ‘departure from the postwar regime’. In a similar way,
Koizumi’s unyielding stance against China was used to calm discontents among right-wing
traditionalists who were opposed to his reconciliatory approach to Pyongyang. On the other
hand, Abe also utilized a hard-line policy to the DPRK to offset his rapprochement with
China whilst he sought to prevent the improved relationship from becoming a source of
political capital for his rivals. The major insights of this thesis is thus to explain how Japan’s
foreign policy is shaped by the attempts of its political leaders to manipulate nationalism so as
articulating particular forms of national identity that enable them to achieve legitimacy for
their policy agendas, boost domestic credentials and marginalize their political rivals.read more
Citations
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Book
국제정치이론 = Theory of international politics
Kenneth Neal Waltz,건영 박 +1 more
TL;DR: The seeker after the truth is not one who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather, one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration, and not to the sayings of a human being whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and deformation as mentioned in this paper.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions
TL;DR: The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions by Ellis S. Krauss and RobERT J. PEKKANEN as discussed by the authors, 2010. 318 pp.
References
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Contemporary politics in Japan
TL;DR: Masumi as mentioned in this paper examines the unfolding relationship between the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the state and the forces of industrialization in Japan from the 1950s through the 1980s, arguing that Japan's rapid economic growth was promoted by an "iron triangle" among three actors - the LDP, the bureaucracy and big business.
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The Postwar Conservative View of Asia: How the Political Right Has Delayed Japan's Coming to Terms with Its History of Aggression in Asia
Laura E. Hein,Wakamiya Yoshibumi +1 more
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Sino-Japanese rivalry and its implications for developing nations
TL;DR: The PRC9s larger size, rapid economic development, and greater international assertiveness would seem to give China a clear edge over Japan as mentioned in this paper. Yet, Beijing9s frequently heavy-handed diplomacy and steadily rising defense budgets concern many of its neighbors.
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Right Angles: Examining Accounts of Japanese Neo-nationalism
Matthew Penney,Bryce Wakefield +1 more
TL;DR: A video short attached to an online article in the New York Times proclaimed "Japan is asserting itself militarily. It is embracing right-wing nationalism. And it is flirting with nuclear weapons" as discussed by the authors.