Marie Söderberg

This report is based on the workshop “Japan's Foreign Policy in Transition: The Way Forward for Japan as an International Actor in a World in Flux,” organized by the Institute for Security and Development Policy on February 11, 2011. Japan’s present-day foreign policy was founded in the early postwar years. It was a child of the Cold War and when the Cold War ended its underpinnings seemed gone. A cautious process of change began to evolve as a result of the setback for Japan’s foreign policy during the 1991 Gulf War, and, subsequently, foreign policy has been gradually modified and altered in a step by step process. Domestic developments in 2009 made it reasonable to expect that more far-reaching changes would be introduced into Japan’s foreign policy. After the landslide victory for the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) in the general elections in August 2009, the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) had to hand over the reins of power to the former opposition party. The new coalition government headed by the DPJ declared that the “bloodless Heisei revolution” had taken place and a process of reforms involving also foreign policy was initiated. Eventually, however, the DPJ has seen its support among voters slip. The political situation in Japan is volatile and outcome of the on-going political processes is far from clear. ISDP is grateful to the contributors who willingly shared their views on the foreign policy of Japan that is evolving.