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Reconstructing hierarchy as the key international relations concept and its implications for the study of Japanese national identity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 July 2018

Michal Kolmaš
Michal Kolmaš*
Affiliation:
Metropolitan University Prague, Dubecska 900/10, Prague 100 31, Czech Republic
*
Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

For the last few decades, the discipline of international relations has been littered with anarchy. Since Waltz's Theory of International Politics, it has been assumed that states are formally equal sovereign unitary actors operating in an anarchic world system and that their identities and interests are defined by the very existence of anarchy. This article shatters this conception. It offers a ‘hierarchical worldview’ in order to illustrate that the very concepts of state, sovereignty, and anarchy are discursive creations inherently tied to the practice of hierarchy. I use a case study of Japanese national identity to illustrate this practice. The narratives of Japan as an autonomous and sovereign state were inextricably linked to Japan's hierarchical relationship toward Asia and the West (pre-war) and the USA (post-war). Japan's sovereignty and autonomy were then formulated within the practice of hierarchy.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 19 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 507 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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