Japanese Diplomacy

H. D. P. Envall

Description

A political leader is most often a nation's most high-profile foreign policy figure, its chief diplomat. But how do individual leadership styles, personalities, perceptions, or beliefs shape diplomacy? In Japanese Diplomacy, the question of what role leadership plays in diplomacy is applied to Japan, a country where the individual is often viewed as being at the mercy of the group and where prime ministers have been largely thought of as reactive and weak. In challenging earlier, simplified ideas of Japanese political leadership, H. D. P. Envall argues that Japan's leaders, from early Cold War figures such as Yoshida Shigeru to the charismatic and innovative Koizumi Jun'ichirō to the present leadership of Abe Shinzō, have pursued leadership strategies of varying coherence and rationality, often independent of their political environment. He also finds that different Japanese leaders have shaped Japanese diplomacy in some important and underappreciated ways. In certain environments, individual difference has played a significant role in determining Japan's diplomacy, both in terms of the country's strategic identity and summit diplomacy. What emerges from Japanese Diplomacy, therefore, is a more nuanced overall picture of Japanese leadership in foreign affairs.
Tables
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction

1. Leadership and Diplomacy

2. Locating Japanese Leaders

3. Leadership and Japan’s Strategic Identity

4. Ōhira Masayoshi: Overdetermined Environment

5. Suzuki Zenkō: Laissez-Faire Leadership

6. Nakasone Yasuhiro: Widening Possibilities

Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index

Sujets

• Diplomacy
• History of Asia
• Japan
• Diplomatie (homonymie)

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 17 février 2015
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781438454993
• Langue: English

Extrait

Japanese Diplomacy
SUNY series, James N. Rosenau series in Global Politics

David C. Earnest, editor
Japanese Diplomacy
The Role of Leadership
H. D. P. ENVALL
Published by State University of New York Press, Albany
© 2015 State University of New York
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.
For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY
www.sunypress.edu
Production, Eileen Nizer
Marketing, Michael Campochiaro
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Envall, H. D. P.
Japanese diplomacy : the role of leadership / H. D. P. Envall.
pages cm. — (SUNY series, James N. Rosenau series in global politics)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4384-5497-9 (hardcover : alk. paper)
ISBN 978-1-4384-5499-3 (ebook)
1. Japan—Politics and government. 2. Political leadership—Japan. 3. Prime ministers—Japan. 4. Personality and politics. 5. Japan—Foreign relations. I. Title. JQ1631.E68 2014 327.52—dc23 2014010395
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Megan
Contents
Tables
Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
1 Leadership and Diplomacy
2 Locating Japanese Leaders
3 Leadership and Japan’s Strategic Identity
4 Ōhira Masayoshi: Overdetermined Environment
5 Suzuki Zenkō: Laissez-Faire Leadership
6 Nakasone Yasuhiro: Widening Possibilities
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Tables
Table 1 Transformational and Transactional Leadership Styles
Table 2 Change and Scope in Leadership Visions and Outcomes
Table 3 Selected Japanese Leadership Strategies and Outcomes
Table 4 Japan’s Summit Leadership
Preface
In this book, I have sought to characterize how individual leaders act in international affairs and to identify how their leadership plays a causal role in the processes and outcomes of diplomatic decision making. In addition to these general aims, I have also sought to examine and explain the more specific issue of Japanese political leadership and foreign affairs. Have Japanese prime ministers—especially those who came before Koizumi Jun’ichirō—been able to pursue leadership styles not necessarily in keeping with their political environments? And have these leaders shaped the country’s diplomatic processes and outcomes?
Many people provided enormous support to me in the researching, writing, and redrafting of various aspects of the book. They include William Coaldrake, Gerald Curtis, Katalin Ferber, Takeshi Nobayashi, the librarians at the International House of Japan, the Deutsches Institut Für Japanstudien (German Institute for Japanese Studies), Patricia Papa, Michal Takahashi, Adiya Lkhagvaa, Kazue Murai, Tim Letheren, Miho Yajima, Yeo Kwee Chuan, Hiroko Watanabe, Pam Wallace, Sue Gilbert, Peter Matanle, Rikki Kersten, Chizuko Horiuchi, Ansonne Belcher, Kana Moy, Sheila Flores, Satomi Ono, Ian Hall, Brendan Taylor, Amy Catalinac, Kerri Ng, Nick Bisley, Judith Brett, David Walton, Mathew Davies, Shannon Tow, and Michelle Hall, amongst many others. Several people read drafts of the manuscript at various stages and, as well as demonstrating great patience, provided extensive and very helpful comments and suggestions, especially Derek McDougall, Carolyn Stevens, Hugo Dobson, John Welfield, William Tow, and the anonymous reviewers. I am also particularly indebted to Mary-Louise Hickey, whose exceptional copyediting has made the book far more fluent than would have otherwise been possible.
At different stages through this process, I was also lucky to receive support of various kinds from organizations including the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Hitotsubashi University, Waseda University, La Trobe University, and The Australian National University.
I am eternally grateful for the ongoing encouragement of my family, especially my parents, Bruce and Diana. I am also blessed to have had the support of my Japanese host-family—Tamotsu, Toshiko, Satoshi, Tomoko, Ken, Mafuyu, and Sakura. Finally, my partner, Megan O’Donnell, who was prepared to read through numerous drafts and redrafts, has given me the inspiration without which I could not have finished the book. Despite all this help, however, I alone bear responsibility for the book’s shortcomings.
Japanese words and personal names have been Romanized according to the modified Hepburn system. Japanese names are presented in the Japanese order. However, the spelling and word order for the names of Japanese scholars publishing in English are maintained as published.
Chapters 2 and 3 include material adapted from two earlier articles by the author. These are: “Exceptions that Make the Rule? Koizumi Jun’ichirō and Political Leadership in Japan,” H. D. P. Envall, Japanese Studies , September 1, 2008, reprinted by permission of the publisher (Taylor Francis Ltd, www.tandf.co.uk/journals ); and “Transforming Security Politics: Koizumi Jun’ichro and the Gaullist Tradition in Japan,” H. D. P. Envall, Electronic Journal of Contemporary Japanese Studies , July 20, 2008, for which copyright is retained by the author under the journal’s copyright and disclaimers policy.
Abbreviations ADB Asia Development Board ASEAN Association of Southeast Asian Nations CLB Cabinet Legislation Bureau DLP Democratic Liberal Party DPJ Democratic Party of Japan EC European Community FPA foreign policy analysis G5 Group of Five G7 Group of Seven G8 Group of Eight G20 Group of Twenty GATT General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade IEA International Energy Agency INF intermediate-range nuclear forces IR international relations JDA Japan Defense Agency JSDF Japan Self Defense Forces JSP Japan Socialist Party LDP Liberal Democratic Party MITI Ministry of International Trade and Industry MOF Ministry of Finance MOFA Ministry of Foreign Affairs NATO North Atlantic Treaty Organization OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OPEC Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries START Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty UK United Kingdom
Introduction
Why Leaders Are Important
Whether presidents or prime ministers, political leaders play a prominent role in a nation’s foreign affairs. When attending summits, conducting negotiations, or signing agreements, they are, in effect, the nation’s most high-profile foreign policy figure, its chief diplomat . 1 In the popular consciousness, one common, if circular, view is that diplomatic successes are inevitably achieved by powerful leaders while failures are the product of weak leaders. Conversely, in academia, the role of leaders in international affairs is often overlooked. While political leadership is a concern for those working in the field of foreign policy analysis (FPA), 2 scholars from the broader area of international relations (IR) theory have tended to focus on structural or normative explanations for international outcomes. 3 In particular, they have paid less attention to questions of how individual leadership styles, personalities, perceptions, or beliefs shape international politics. 4 As Daniel Byman and Kenneth Pollack note, the study of leaders has “not been attacked so much as ignored by international relations theorists.” 5
Understanding more about how political leadership shapes foreign policy and international affairs is especially helpful for answering some important questions concerning political leadership—and diplomacy—in Japan. Because Japan is viewed as a nation where the individual is at the mercy of the group, prime ministers have been thought of largely as reactive and weak. 6 The underlying assumption concerning Japan’s leaders is that they have had little effect on the country’s foreign policy. Constrained by a dominant central bureaucracy, their role has been to avoid scandals and, on occasion, demonstrate a little charisma. On the diplomatic front, they have often been expected just to enjoy the celebrity of leading a major world economy. Comparatively little regard, therefore, has been paid to their role in international affairs.
The arrival of Koizumi Jun’ichirō—Japan’s prime minister from 2001 until 2006—demonstrated that Japanese leaders can wield influence. 7 Indeed, his impact on Japan and the region during these years raised doubts about this earlier orthodoxy: was past Japanese leadership as reactive as had been assumed? Previous attempts to locate Japan’s leaders in their environments have arguably mischaracterized Japanese leadership. “Caricatures of national leadership style,” as Richard Samuels has noted, “are, like most stereotypes, engaging but misleading.” 8 By seeing Japanese leadership as overwhelmingly subject to structural constraints, the orthodoxy of Japanese politics has been to follow the same tendency as IR theory and ignore the role of leaders. 9 But what role do leaders play in shaping Japan’s diplomacy?
International Relations and Leadership
In international affairs more widely, the role of leadership is complicated by the fact that leaders must operate across multiple politi