Whither an Internationalist Japan: Global Activism and Democratic Deficit in Japanese Foreign Policy

Abstract

Japanese foreign policy since the late 1980s has exhibited many signs of liberal internationalism: a generous development assistance package despite its economic malaise, an expanded presence in international peacekeeping and peace-building missions, and a multi-faceted, people-centered approach to international security. This article, however, draws attention to the (non)liberal character of Japanese activism by shedding light on Japan`s entanglement in democracy assistance, a trademark liberal internationalist project. Two features stand out in this juxtaposition. First, democracy assistance has been seen as supplementary-rather than parallel-to the peace and development initiatives in Japan`s diplomatic repertoire. Second, when democracy was indeed played up, the act nonetheless exposed the myriad innate contradictions between the liberal paradigm and Japan`s nationalist impulses that transpired in its diplomatic offensives. Humanistic as it can be at times, Japan`s global outreach is non-liberal at best because it is intellectually informed and motivated by a confluence of nationalist resurgence and realist power considerations.