Paper short abstract:

Through interviews with MOFA diplomats, this paper aims to understand to what extent status plays a role in policymakers’ thoughts about Japanese security policy today, with their views of Abe’s tenure as a useful case due to his ambitions for Japan to be an international leader.

Paper long abstract:

In a Japan that for some time had been plagued by a revolving door in the prime minister’s office,

Abe Shinzo’s tenure displayed surprising stability. His almost eight consecutive years in office were

marked by two interrelated developments: a strong focus on strengthening Japan’s security posture

and international partnerships, and an emphasis on the need for Japan to take a leading role on the

international stage. While the motivation behind the former was no doubt informed by a rising,

increasingly belligerent China and an unstable North Korea, the strive for security policy change and

constitutional revision has existed in Japanese politics – and particularly within the Liberal

Democratic Party and Abe’s home faction, the Seiwaken – since the end of WWII. To what extent is

this general motivation to change Japan – irrespective of international threats – still present in how

policymakers think about security policy and Japan’s role in the world? Given Abe’s long tenure, and

his empirically observable will to have Japan be an international leader, his prime ministership is a

useful case to understand just how alive this sentiment is. In this paper, I base myself in previous

research on Japanese foreign policy that has found a connection between international status on the

one hand, and security policy change and constitutional revision on the other. During field work in

Japan in spring 2023, I will conduct interviews with MOFA diplomats, foreign policy experts, and,

hopefully, individuals who worked closely on policies like FOIP and Proactive Pacifism. The aim is to

understand what meanings they ascribe to Abe’s legacy generally; his foreign policy prioritizations;

and to how he represented Japan on the international stage. I hope to be able to show the extent to

which status considerations play a role in how diplomats and policymakers evaluate Abe’s legacy and

contribute to the wider literature on Japanese security policy change, and the different material and

ideational factors that inform it.