Change in Japanese Foreign Policy during the Shinzo Abe Period

This paper aims to investigate why there is a change in Japan’s foreign policy after Shinzo Abe’s accession to power for the second time in December 2012 and whether this change occurred only in the level of means or the goal that the policy addresses is replaced. The purpose of this study is to seek an analytical explanation of these questions by conducting an examination of Abe’s foreign policy through Charles Hermann’s model for foreign policy change. By applying this explanatory model to Japan’s foreign policy under the Abe administration, this paper attempts to address the sources of change, the intermediate step of decision-making and the level of change. Within this framework, this study first examines Abe’s leadership and bureaucratic advocacy as major sources of change. Then, it draws a picture of decision making process which fundamentally controls the direction of foreign policy change. Finally it argues that the purpose of the original policy has changed