ブックタイトル佐藤栄作論文集９～１６

概要

佐藤栄作論文集９～１６

supporters. At a more abstract level this framework requires that a governmentlives up to the subjective expectations of other countries. This must be underpinnedby a domestic political system that is stable enough to be able to support leadershipcommitments.Is Japan Structurally Constrained?In response to Japan’s attempts to deepen its commitment to international burdensharing, a number of observers, both inside and outside Japan, have questioned ifthe country is in fact able and willing to do so. On the basis of my own observations,including discussions with Japanese people from all walks of life, I believe thereare a number of constraints which must be tackled by Japan’s leaders and publicin order for its burgeoning international role to be credible. The central issues arewhether Japan’s diffuse but rigid political structure, its insular culture, its historicalexperiences, and its pacifist constitution are an obstacle to forthright and creativeleadership qualities, a prompt decision-making ability, and the communication of aconvincing‘global vision’.History conditions the presentJapan’s history has very clearly conditioned the attitudes of its leaders and citizenstowards the outside world and Japan’s position within it. It may not be unreasonableto suggest that its historical experiences have contributed to a country not entirelyat one with the rest of the world; one commentator labeled Japan“in the worldbut not of it.”5 A number of themes can be readily discerned. Until the 1850s Japanhad experienced a long period of seclusion, and the isolationist mindset still existsafter being revived by events in the Twentieth Century. The attendant feelings of5285 Karel van Wolferen, The Enigma of Japanese Power, Tokyo, Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1993, chapter 16, and Karelvan Wolferen,‘The Japan Problem Revisited’, Foreign Affairs, vol.69, Fall 1990.