Not Practicing What You Preach: Japan's National Role Conceptions and its Human Rights Foreign Policy
Date
2020
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Haverford College. Department of Political Science
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Thesis
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Award
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eng
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Dark Archive until 2030-01-01, afterwards Haverford users only.
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Abstract
Towards the end of the 20th century, a new generation of political elites in Japan began to embrace internationalism in the quest to elevate the state's low political profile and reshape the common perception of Japan being a mere merchant nation. While support for the abstract principles of universal human rights had been stated in rhetoric and policy papers, it did not amount to consistent adherence in practice. The goal of this thesis is to examine 1) the motivations behind Japan's shift in giving at least some importance to human rights as yet another issue area of a state's foreign policy, such as trade, environment, and security; and 2) the motivations of digressing from the stated principles from time to time, namely foreign policy goals that Japan prioritizes over the benefits of having a superficial commitment in place. This thesis will argue that Japan's changes in behavior, its adoption of human rights foreign policy, can be explained by the changes in expressed roles, and it is also multifaceted national role conceptions that help explain Japan's inconsistency in its subsequent implementation.