Japan’s Foreign and Security Policy Under the ‘Abe Doctrine’ – with Christopher W. Hughes

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo’s foreign and security policy —highly charged with ideological revisionism— contains the potential to shift Japan onto a new international trajectory. Its degree of articulation and energy makes for a doctrine capable of displacing the ‘Yoshida Doctrine’ that has been Japan’s dominant grand strategy in the post-war period.

 

Many have argued that Abe will remain pragmatic and not challenge the status quo. However, Abe has already begun to introduce radical policies that look to transform national security, US-Japan alliance ties, and relations with China and East Asia. The ‘Abe Doctrine’ is dynamic but also high-risk. Abe’s revisionism contains fundamental contradictions that may ultimately limit the effectiveness, or even defeat, his doctrine.

 

Christopher W. Hughes is Professor of International Politics and Japanese Studies, and Pro-Vice-Chancellor, University of Warwick, UK. He has held visiting professorships at Harvard University, University of Tokyo and Waseda University. He is the author of Japan’s Reemergence as ‘Normal’ Military Power (2004), Japan’s Remgards Anilitarisation (2009), and Japan’s Foreign and Security Policy under the ‘Abe Doctrine’ (2015). He is co-editor of The Pacific Review.

 

To reserve your place, please call the Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk