Japan and the liberal international order

Rules-Based, Multilateral, Inclusive and Localized

Bibliographic Data

ID3721070
AuthorsRyoko Nakano (0000-0002-9747-1743, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume99
Issue4
Pages1421-1438
Publication date2023-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Affairs (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-5850 • E-ISSN: 1468-2346
PublisherOxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1093/ia/iiad166
OpenAlexW4382918045
LanguageEN
Citations received9

This article examines Japan's security and foreign policy as an example of how a major power engages in the liberal international order (LIO) and what this implies for the future of that order. Facing China's increased power and influence in the past two decades, Japan has made strategic adjustments in response to regional and global power transitions while developing an idea of a wider geopolitical landscape on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's initiative. However, this article argues that Japan's idea of an expanded regional scope and its vision of order were addressed decades earlier through 'comprehensive security' (sogo anzen hosho). While the country is an ally of the United States and clearly accepts the alliance as a key part of international order, Japan has its own ideas about international order; these accept much of the LIO but go beyond it, particularly in the articulation and operationalization of comprehensive security. By adopting the concept of norm localization, this article argues that Japan does not have the power to coerce others to take any actions to defend the current international order, but it can adapt and tweak the dominant LIO norms, principles and practices to build congruence with local norms of sovereignty and territorial integrity embedded in its own region. To create a broader consensus in favour of sustaining the LIO, major powers like Japan can approach the sceptics by presenting an alternative to either total rejection or total acceptance of the LIO norms

China · Economics · Epistemology · Geopolitics · Great power · International relations · International relations theory · International security · Law and economics · Norm (philosophy) · Operationalization · Order (exchange) · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Power (physics) · Sociology · Sovereignty · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · International Development and Aid · International Relations and Foreign Policy · Law

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