Japan's Reluctant Realism: Foreign Policy Challenges in an Era of Uncertain Power

by Michael J. Green

Has Japanese foreign policy changed in the post - Cold War era? On the surface, it appears to have been quite consistent since the end of World War II. It has stressed the US-Japanese security alliance, the use of economic tools, and constraints on the use of force. However, this book argues that new ideas and new patterns of diplomacy have in fact come about following the changes after the fall of the Berlin Wall. Using case studies that look at China, the Korean peninsulas, Russia and Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and international institutions, Michael Green uncovers a more Japanese foreign policy in Japan. Though it still converges with the US on fundamental issues, it is increasingly independent. While remaining low-risk, it is more sensitive to balance-of-power issues. It is still reactive, but it is far less passive. Green argues that this emerging strategic view, what he calls â reluctant realism,â is being shaped by a combination of changes in the international environment, insecurity about national power resources, and Japanese aspirations for a national identity that moves beyond the legacy of World War II. As a result, it is time for the US and the world to recognize Japan as an independent actor in Northeast Asia and to assess Japanese foreign policy on its own terms.

Genres: Japan, Politics

351 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

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There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Michael Green is the Japan Chair and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), as well as an associate professor of international relations at Georgetown University. He served as special assistant to the president for national security affairs and senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council (NSC) from January 2004 to December 2005. He joined the NSC in April 2001 as director of Asian affairs with responsibility for Japan, Korea, and Australia/New Zealand. From 1997 to 2000, he was senior fellow for Asian security at the Council on Foreign Relations, where he directed the Independent Task Force on Korea and study groups on Japan and security policy in Asia. He served as senior adviser to the Office of Asia Pacific Affairs at the Department of Defense in 1997 and as consultant to the same office until 2000.

From 1995 to 1997, he was a research staff member at the Institute for Defense Analyses, and from 1994 to 1995, he was an assistant professor of Asian studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), where he remained a professorial lecturer until 2001. At SAIS, he was also associate executive director of the Foreign Policy Institute (1992–1994) and acting director of the Reischauer Center for East Asian Studies (1999–2000).

Dr. Green speaks fluent Japanese and spent over five years in Japan working as a staff member of the Diet of Japan, as a journalist for Japanese and American newspapers, and as a consultant for U.S. business. His major publications include Japan's Reluctant Realism (Palgrave/St. Martin's, 2001), The U.S.-Japan Alliance (Council on Foreign Relations, 1999), and Arming Japan (Columbia University Press, 1995).


Dr. Green graduated from Kenyon College with highest honors in history in 1983 and received his M.A. from Johns Hopkins SAIS in 1987 and his Ph.D. in 1994. He also did graduate work at Tokyo University as a Fulbright fellow and with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a research associate of the MIT-Japan Program. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Institute for International Security Studies.

Dr. Green is also an avid bagpipe player.

Reviews

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

an exhaustive book concerning almost everything one would want to know about Japanese economics, security, and politics in the 1990s, especially. while sometimes painfully boring, Green packs an intense amount of information in Reluctant Realism. I found myself highlighting, underlining or making notes every three sentences or so. while some of Green's predictions still hold weight, some do not - for example Green writes that the LDP will probably fall apart and Article 9 will be revised with ease. neither of these are really true present day as the LDP dominates the upper and lower parliament and Article 9 faces pushback within the house, in the Japanese public and also by Japan's Asia Pacific neighbors. personally, I enjoyed the chapter about Japan's relations with China, the Korean Peninsula, and Southeast Asia the most.

I had a conversation with someone who was a student of Green's primary mentor that noted Green's teacher didn't want Green to name his book Japan's Reluctant Realism. after finishing the book, I agree the title is misleading. Japan's Reluctant Realism is much more of a historical run-down than a book focused on IR theory, in particular realism. Green makes a point that Japan is realizing it must become more self-reliant rather than passive for a variety of reasons but he doesn't really hammer his thesis into realism as a theory.

[Kurishin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still generally relevant, even after 15 years. Green's concise description of Japan's role in the Asian Financial Crisis was perhaps the highlight for me. Challenges described within concerning Japan's fellow Asian countries remain quite similar today.