11/30/2021 | Inheriting Abe’s Legacy?: Japan’s Security Discourse under the Kishida Administration

In October 2021, Fumio Kishida emerged as Japan’s new prime minister and Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) secured general election victory. While he has pledged to further Japan’s foreign policy strategy under the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy and showed his support for sustaining the liberal international order, Kishida also raised the potential for Japan to acquire the capability to strike enemy bases. Taking into account the current political atmosphere in Japan, this talk unravels knowledge production of Japanese security thinking by examining whether the stronger realistic attitude of Japan is being attributed to conservatism in Japan or vice versa.

Speaker

Misato Matsuoka is Associate Professor at Teikyo University (Japan). Her research interests include International Relations (IR) theories, security studies, and regionalism in the Asia-Pacific/Indo-Pacific. Her recent publications are ‘Japan’s International Relations (co-authored with Christopher W. Hughes)’ in Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Japan edited by Hiroko Takeda and Mark Williams (Routledge, 2020) and ‘The role of informal political actors in Japanese security policymaking: the case of Kitaoka Shin’ichi‘ (2020).

Moderator

Gregg Brazinsky (he/him) is Professor of History and International Affairs. He is director of the Asian Studies Program, acting director of the Sigur Center for Asian Studies, and acting co-director of the East Asia National Resource Center. He is the author of two books: Nation Building in South Korea: Koreans, Americans, and the Making of a Democracy and Winning the Third World: Sino-American Rivalry during the Cold War. His articles have appeared in numerous journals including Diplomatic History and the Journal of Korean Studies. He has written op-eds for The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune and several other media outlets. He is currently working on two books. The first explores American nation building in Asia–especially Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea. The second explores Sino-North Korean relations during the Cold War.