Abstract
Japan’s leaders now emphasize a values-based approach to diplomacy, namely the “universal values” of democracy and human rights, but also “Asian values.” Promulgating values abroad is a new role for Japan, who has long let economic interests drive its foreign policymaking. What is the Japanese notion of these values, and how are they broaching the subject, particularly with Muslim states in Asia with poor records of human rights and democracy? This chapter responds to these questions through the analysis of statements made by Japanese leaders from 2013 to 2018 while visiting Muslim states in Asia. The research shows that Japan is spreading its own brand of democracy and human rights in Muslim Asia through ODA, dialogues, and in a form identified as “modeling.”
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Notes
- 1.
This is the official English translation available from the Office of the Prime Minister. Jihi (慈悲) is translated into “lovingkindness ,” but is perhaps more appropriately “mercy .”
- 2.
Minpon is a compound of tami (people) and moto (base), and has been translated into the cumbersome “people-base-ism.”
- 3.
Both “basic” and “fundamental” are used interchangeably in official English translations of kihonteki (基本的).
- 4.
Coincidently, less than two decades later the Prophet Muhammad wrote the Constitution of Medina.
- 5.
Includes only Indonesia (6.39) and Malaysia (6.54); Brunei is not included in the survey.
- 6.
This is figured by averaging state-level data across Muslim Asia from EIU.
- 7.
Sixty years later at the same place, Abe reiterated this objective for Japan: “Japan…resolved [in 1955] that among Asian and African countries seeking peace and prosperity under the Bandung principles, we should stand at the forefront” (2015a).
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Barber, B.B. (2020). Democratization and Human Rights. In: Japan's Relations with Muslim Asia. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34280-7_6
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