What is it about?
The article analyzes Japan's North Korea policy to challenge the abnormality thesis in Japan's foreign and security policy. It demonstrates that Japan tries to get it way with other actors involved in the Six-Party Talks, and that such actions produce significant effects - often by further obstructing the talks. Japan's actions are similar to, rather than different from, those of other actors in the talks.
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Why is it important?
The article challenges what most other Japan scholarship treats as the dependent variable: hence, its alleged abnormality in foreign and security policy. It adopts a more fine-grained understanding of power to show that Japan exercises power in the North Korean nuclear talks, often on a par with other involved parties.
Perspectives
The article is a few years old but has two messages that remain relevant: don't underestimate Japan; and be aware that the operation of power is international politics is often more complex than meets the eye at first sight.
Professor Linus Hagström
Swedish Defence University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Normalizing Japan: Supporter, Nuisance, or Wielder of Power in the North Korean Nuclear Talks?, Asian Survey, September 2009, University of California Press,
DOI: 10.1525/as.2009.49.5.831.
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