[특집] 세계화속의 일본의 역할 증대

JAPAN'S EMERGING GLOBAL ROLE

This article deals with the new role of Japan as she emerges as an economic power during the last decades. Coping with the socioeconomic transformation of the global system, Japan has been undertaking imporant new initiatives in its political and security policies ,which, however, do not add up to a coherent international posture Within the ever globalizing world. Japan s political leaders propose to pursue global interests and means, to which this article has the most concerns. It is, in this sense, the aim of this article that the author would like to find out the strategic framework of political leaders in Japan, who propose the policies concerned. Throughout a long experience of Japan in internationalization, a borderless movement of human resources, financial stocks, commercial goods, and information have brought about Japan as an interdependent trading partner with many countries, particulakly, with those countries, the most open and free trading partners. An over-presence of Japanese goods and culture has been understood as an interpenetrating phenomena within the globalizing world. It remains clear to observers both inside Japan and abroad that Japanese leaders have not yet adequately identified ther global interests and the means by which they propose to pursue them. It is, however, increasingly evident that Japan clearly has some of the capabilities needed to shape the international system to suit her interests, particularly with economic and technological strength increasingly important bases of international power. In the meantime, Japan has been encountered ever mounting pressures to acknowledge her stakes in the international political economy and to act accordingly to serve those stakes. Japan s search for a new global role may disrupt her relations with other countries, including the United States. The goal of this article is to understand the constraints and opportunities that establish the strategic frameworks within which Japan will be identifying and pursuing its global interests. The article is, therefore, divided into five parts to describe the contents of Japan s stakes. A detailed discussions about (l)Japan's defense policies. (2)policies toward the Asia-Pacific region. (3)Overseas Development Assistance policies. (4)Environmental issues, and, (5)policy proposals toward the United Nations, were described. As a conclusion, the article introduces the Japanese perception of the global society in these days.