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Dissertation

Nationalism in Japan’s contemporary foreign policy: a consideration of the cases of China, North Korea, and India

01 Feb 2013-
TL;DR: 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.
Citations
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Book
01 Jan 2000
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.
Abstract: Therefore, 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 the 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 de‹ciency. Thus the duty of the man who investigates the writings of scientists, if learning the truth is his goal, is to make himself the enemy of all that he reads, and, applying his mind to the core and margins of its content, attack it from every side. He should also suspect himself as he performs his critical examination of it, so that he may avoid falling into either prejudice or leniency. (Ibn al-Haytham)1

512 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
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.
Abstract: ELLIS S. KRAUSS and ROBERT J. PEKKANEN. The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions . Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2010. 318 pp. US$26...

56 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1998
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that national identity is an ever-changing concept, influenced by internal and external events, and by the manipulation of a polity's collective memory, and that the interaction of the narrative of a society and its foreign policy is therefore paramount.
Abstract: This book is based on the premise that the foreign policy of any country is heavily influenced by a society's evolving notions of itself. Applying his analysis to Russia, Poland, and Ukraine, the author argues that national identity is an ever-changing concept, influenced by internal and external events, and by the manipulation of a polity's collective memory. The interaction of the narrative of a society and its foreign policy is therefore paramount. This is especially the case in East-Central Europe, where political institutions are weak, and social coherence remains subject to the vagaries of the concept of nationhood. Ilya Prizel's study will be of interest to students of nationalism, as well as of foreign policy and politics in East-Central Europe.

203 citations


"Nationalism in Japan’s contemporary..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Although Prizel (1998) discerns five categories of relationships between national identity and the conduct of foreign policy, Japan’s case does not seem to fit into any of these groups....

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Book
01 Jan 1988

195 citations

Book
25 Sep 2003
TL;DR: The Search for Strategy and Identity - Domestic Institutions and Foreign Policy - Japan-China Relations, Japan and the Korean Peninsula - The New Eurasia Diplomacy - Japan and South East Asia - Multilateral Diplomacy and International Financial System as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The Search for Strategy and Identity - Domestic Institutions and Foreign Policy - Japan-China Relations - Japan and the Korean Peninsula - The New Eurasia Diplomacy - Japan and South East Asia - Multilateral Diplomacy - Japan and the International Financial System

188 citations


"Nationalism in Japan’s contemporary..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The success of this summit meeting and the Joint Declaration was interpreted as a ‘real’ normalization of the bilateral relationship, which had not been achieved at normalization in 1965 (Green 2003: 136)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI

180 citations


"Nationalism in Japan’s contemporary..." refers background in this paper

  • ...The establishment of administrations led by Nakasone, Ohira, Suzuki, Miyazawa and Kaifu would exemplify this situation (Curtis 1988: 82, 105, Curtis 1999: 86, Hrebenar 2000: 107-8)....

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Book
19 Apr 2006
TL;DR: In this paper, Chinese Nationalism in the Global Era 1. The Globalization of Nationalism Under 'Reform and Opening' 2. After 1989: Nationalism and the New Global Elite 3. Globalization and its Discontents 4. What Kind of a Status Quo Power?
Abstract: Introduction: Chinese Nationalism in the Global Era 1. The Globalization of Nationalism Under 'Reform and Opening' 2. After 1989: Nationalism and the New Global Elite 3. Globalization and its Discontents 4. What Kind of a Status Quo Power?

180 citations


"Nationalism in Japan’s contemporary..." refers background in this paper

  • ...…in IR theory, recent years have witnessed the development of empirical researches on nationalism and foreign policy such as the case of China (Hughes 1997, 2002, 2006, Downs and Saunders 1998, Zhao 2004, Guang 2005), the United States (Citrin, Haas, Muste and Reingold 1994, McCartney 2004,…...

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