Paper short abstract:

This paper discusses Japan's security engagement in Africa. I argue that ‘proactive contribution to peace’ and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy are attempts to seek status and ontological security by ‘fitting in’ and shaping ‘like-minded’ understandings of regional and international security.

Paper long abstract:

This paper draws from the status and ontological (in)security literature to discuss Japan’s renewed security engagement in the African continent through ‘proactive contribution to peace’ and the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy (FOIP). While realist scholars argue that ‘proactive contribution to peace’ is merely a label used to pursue remilitarisation, and that FOIP only matters in geo-strategic terms, I contend that they represent attempts to seek status and ontological security by trying to ‘fit in’ and shape ‘like-minded’ understandings of regional and international security. I argue that ‘proactive contribution to peace’ represents a discursive (auto)biographical narrative that speaks to Japanese conservatives’ ontological security and sense of being in the international system. Abe’s first stint as Prime Minister (2006-2007) shows that an outright pursuit of a hawkish security policy can not only strain Japan’s relationship with the US but also endanger Japan’s status in the international system. While restoring the ‘greatness’ of Japan’s past remains at the core of the conservative quest for ontological security, status and acceptance in the international system also matter, as they can alleviate anxieties about belonging in the international system. Hence, I argue that ‘proactive contribution to peace’ serves a profoundly ontological role because it allows Japan to ‘fit in’ with ‘like-minded’ states while simultaneously promoting a future-oriented re-framing of Japan’s wartime past. It is not simply a policy choice, but rather a fundamental reframing of what it means to be Japan(ese) in international politics. Together with this, in the African continent, Japan attempts to reframe ‘like-minded’ understandings of regional and international security through initiatives like FOIP – first presented at TICAD VI in 2016 – which introduced the concept of ‘Indo-Pacific.’ FOIP is not only about Japan’s strategic interests but elucidates how Japan sells itself in a marketplace of ‘like-minded’ states while attempting to shape such a marketplace itself. Hence, I argue that Japan’s security presence in the African continent represents a crucial standpoint from which to observe the tension between Japan’s efforts at seeking status among ‘like-minded’ countries, while still trying to foster the exceptionality of Japan-ness.