Japan and the International System: Challenge from the Pacific
| Date | 01 March 1991 |
| Published date | 01 March 1991 |
| DOI | 10.1177/002070209104600108 |
| Author | Michael K. Hawes |
| Subject Matter | Article |
MICHAEL
K.
HAWES
Japan
and
the
international
system:
challenge
from
the
Pacific
Contemporary
students
of
world
politics
have
been
concerned
primarily
with
matters
European.
Discussions
of
war
and
peace,
conflict
resolution,
foreign
policy
behaviour,
deterrence,
alli-
ance
formation,
and
regional
integration
have
been
focussed
almost
exclusively on
Europe.
More
accurately, most
observers
have
been
interested
in
the
creation
and maintenance
of
the
north
Atlantic
community
(read
European-American
relations)
and
the
ideological
battle
over
the
future
of
Europe
(read
Soviet-
American
relations).
Recent events
in
the
Soviet
Union, Eastern
Europe,
and
Germany
have
reaffirmed
both
the
importance
of
Europe
in
the
international
system
and
our
preoccupation
with
it. We
must
be
careful,
however,
not
to
lose
sight
of
the
Pacific
dimension
in
international
politics,
especially
the
Japanese-
American
relationship.
The
central premise
of
the
project
of
which
the
articles
in
this
issue
form
a
part
is
that
the
postwar
international
system
is
in crisis
-
more
specifically,
that
the
system
is
being
challenged
on
at least
three
levels.
The
first
challenge
is
the
challenge
from within,
the erosion
of
the
state
and
the
breakdown
of
Associate
Professor of
Political
Studies
and
Senior
Fellow
at the
Centre
for
International
Relations,
Queen's
University,
Kingston,
Ontario;
author
of Prin-
cipal Power,
Middle Power
or
Satellite?:
Competing Perspectives
in
the
Study
of
Canadian
Foreign
Policy
(1984),
co-editor
(with
David
Haglund)
of
World
Politics:
Power,
Interdependence
and
Dependence
(i
99o),
and
co-editor
(with
Joel
J.
Sokolsky)
of
North
American
Perspectives
on
European
Security
(i
99o).
This
paper
is
based on
research
funded
by
the
Donner
Canadian
Foundation
and
the
Advisory
Research
Committee
at
Queen's
University.
International
Journal
XLVI
winter
19go-i
JAPAN AND
THE
INTERNATIONAL
SYSTEM
165
the Westphalian or
states
system.
The
second challenge
is
the
challenge
of
faltering
relationships,
particularly
(but
not
exclu-
sively)
the
north
Atlantic
relationship.
The third
challenge
is
the
challenge
of
new
realities,
including,
inter
alia,
the
end
of
the
Cold
War,
the
re-emergence
of
competitive ethnic
nationalism
in
Eastern
Europe,
the
crisis
in
the
Gulf,
and
the
increasing
importance
of
the
Pacific
region.
The notion
that
the
international
system
is
under
consider-
able
stress
is
hardly
a
new
one.
In
the
past
few
years
it
has
become
intellectually
fashionable
to
talk
of
'declinism'
and
to
argue
that the
United
States
is
no
longer
in
a
position
to
provide
leadership
and
direction.'
More
recently,
although
the
question
of
relative
decline
is
anything
but
settled,
attention
has
moved
away
from
the
issue
of leadership
towards
a
more
direct
consid-
eration
of
the
emergence
of
a
new
world
order.2
This
article
addresses
one
aspect
of
the
challenge
to
the
postwar
international
order
through
an
assessment
of
Japan's
role
in
the
international
system.
Until
the dramatic
events
of
1989 in
Eastern
Europe
captured
our
attention
and
imagina-
tion,
there
had
been much
talk
of
a
'Pacific
century.'
As
William
Gleysteen
observes,
East
Asia
is
'the
most
striking
case
of
sea-
changes
in
recent
history.'
Led
by
Japan,
'an
area
known
for
chronic
war
and
economic
backwardness
has
been
transformed
i
Beginning
in
earnest
with
the
publication
of
Paul
Kennedy's
immensely
popular
history
of
great
power
behaviour,
an
important
and
heated debate
in
main-
stream
international
relations
has
surfaced over
the
relative
capabilities
of
the
United States
and
its
ability
to
continue
to
provide
leadership
in
the
interna-
tional system.
See,
in
particular:
Paul
Kennedy,
The Rise
and
the
Fall
of
the
Great
Powers
(London:
Unwin
Hyman
1988),
William
Pfaff,
Barbarian
Sentiments:
How
the
American Century
Ends
(New
York:
Hill
and
Wang
1989),
Joseph
NyeJr,
Bound
to
Lead:
The
Changing
Nature
of
American
Power
(New
York:
Basic
Books
199o),
and
James
Fallows,
More
Like
Us:
Making America
Great
Again
(New
York:
Basic
Books
1989).
2
It
is
important
not
to
dismiss
this
term
as
mere
political
rhetoric
-
despite
President Bush's
fascination
with
it.
While
history
has
not
come
to
an
end,
it
is
apparent
that
the
central
features
of
the
post-World
War
I I
political
and
economic
order,
both
ideas
and
institutions,
are
slowly
but
surely
giving
way
to
a
new
order
of
sorts.
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