How national political culture shapes international relations: the case of Japan

Abstract

Political culture presupposes going beyond national borders to the outside world, it implies comparing oneself with other cultures in the mirror of socio-political values (“I am the other for the other”). Japan is a testing ground with an exceptionally rich texture for analyzing the influence of a specific political culture on the country’s foreign policy. The author conducts such an analysis based on the methodological arsenal of comparative political science along the “modernity-postmodernity- neomodernity” axis. The author critically examines the concept of the political analyst Andrey Kortunov who focuses on the transition of a number of countries from the postmodern development track, which, within the framework of globalization, led them to nowhere, to a more distinct neo-modern track with its pragmatic transactionalism and orientation to their original values. According to the author, Japan under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tried to break the postmodern deadlock, but then a breakdown ensued caused by the indecisive and reactive policies of weak leaders. Japan is ’’astride on the fence” with one foot in the globalist postmodernity, blindly following the lead of the United States, and the other in neo-modernity, trying to rely on national foundations and values. Using concrete examples from the current reality of Japan, the article shows how the constants of political culture transform the trends that determine the key vectors of international relations, including the negotiations with Russian leaders on the highest level.