Between Self-Esteem and Self-Respect: Vulnerability in Japanese Foreign Policy

Abstract

When one reads international relations (IR) books and journals discussing Japanese foreign policy, it is noticeable that many authors focus on the vulnerability of the state against external (and sometimes internal) threats. Realist and liberal scholars in traditional security studies use classical approaches of IR which rely upon rational choice theories of strategic calculation and the limitation of the scope of security measures to a specific vision of rationalism and military security. Assuming that we are living in an anarchical society with no world government, they consider the state a rational actor which responds to any vulnerability in its political community by self-armament, alliance and a number of strategic approaches such as hedging and deterrence. In this context, foreign policy rests outside the confines of ethical thinking of human agents. Yet, this approach is inevitably one-dimensional and is not able to capture the people’s individual concern for harming and being harmed. Instead of relying on rationalism in international politics, this chapter seeks to draw insight from the psychological concepts of self-esteem and self-respect to highlight Japanese internal frustration with Japan’s policy arrangements with the United States, and the dilemma of the people in Japan who have sought to find an alternative way to secure their lives and values. I contend that vulnerability exists within the domestic community of Japan due to a lost sense of self, as traditional security demands have taken away what it is to be a Japanese person.