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Essay / Japanese Foreign Policy from a Neorealist Perspective
Regarding Japan's pacifism and lack of legitimate military forces, it is quite simple to recognize that Japanese foreign policy is based on liberal beliefs, as underlined the fact that "others, more liberal, have described Japan as the precursor of the pacifist nations of the future." Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"?Get the original essay Since the defeat in World War II, Japan has focused on anti-war pacifism, as well as " Three Non-Nuclear Principles” which states that “Japan will not possess or manufacture nuclear weapons, nor will it permit their introduction into Japanese territory.” Because the constitution was drawn up by rather liberal Americans at the time, Japan focused on regional peace, cooperation, and economic recovery.” From a liberal perspective, Japan enjoyed peace and economic growth through international cooperation, particularly during the era of Shigeru Yoshida, the father of the "Yoshida Doctrine." As the second largest donor to the United Nations and the world's fourth largest provider of ODA, world official development assistance, Japan spontaneously participates in global institutions and maintaining world peace. To deal with the growing threat from China, both politically and economically, Japan has devoted its power to strengthening ties with foreign countries, especially Asian countries. As ASEAN's largest ODA provider, Japan has built ties with them over the past decades. It is geographically important for Japan to cooperate with ASEAN to maintain order and peace in East Asia, blocking the sea route for China to expand its presence around the South China Sea and beyond to the Pacific, with the aim of creating regional stability. In addition, the TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, is also a method to strengthen cooperation with Pacific countries. By many methods, including the two mentioned above, Japan is trying to bring peace to Asia. Furthermore, Japan has participated in and hosted international institutional frameworks even outside Asia. It is not only a member of a myriad of international institutions, starting with the UN, OECD and IMF, but provides one of the highest amounts of monetary support to each institution. The most prestigious is certainly the G7 summit, and the fact that Japan is the only Asian member represents Japan's role as a leader in international cooperation. The Tokyo International Conference on African Development, better known as TICAD, is an example of an international framework for cooperation in Japan. This is a conference mainly focused on the development of Africa and Japanese support for it. Such efforts in international affairs could be explained by neoliberal institutionalism. According to their theory, international institutions have the function of promoting and energizing global cooperation to solve complex problems such as poverty, global warming, etc. Approaching issues through such institutions has the advantages of economies of scale and burden sharing. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has shown signs of strengthening Japanese hard power by transforming the Self-Defense Force into a national defense army and participating in collective defense with neighboring allies. This process could also be analyzed using a liberal approach. The purpose of strengthening power..