Japan, the US, and Regional Institution-Building in the New Asia : When Identity Matters

Providing a thorough and novel account of US and Japanese foreign policymaking toward regional institution-building in post-Cold War Asia, this study serves as the first comparative analysis of these two major actors in this realm of regional cooperation and demonstrates not only how but also when state identity shapes a state's foreign policy. Japan and the United States have been uncertain, and sometimes awkward, companions for the countries of Asia in the area of regional institution-building. This study focuses on the origins of these two key Asia-Pacific countries' companionship, whose actions still weigh considerably on success or failure in this realm of regional cooperation. In identifying distinctive behavior patterns by Tokyo and Washington in the first two major cases of regional institution-building, the author argues that the concept of state identity as perceived by policymakers, alongside the structural attributes of the two countries, served as primary determinants of their foreign policy behavior. Further, with its empirically rich examination through an original 'value-action' framework for foreign policy analysis, the study makes a major contribution to the existing identity scholarship in the field of international relations, by articulating not only how identity matters, but also - and importantly - when and under what condition it likely matters Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction....Pages 1-13 The Value-Action Framework and State Identity....Pages 15-37 Japan and the Creation of APEC: MITI’s Quiet Maneuver, 1988–1989....Pages 39-79 The United States and the Creation of APEC: Global Hegemon and Regional Cooperation, 1988–1989....Pages 81-122 Japan and the Creation of the ARF: MOFA in Motion, 1991–1994....Pages 123-159 The United States and the Creation of the ARF: Hegemonic Approach toward the Post-Cold War Asian Security Order, 1990–1994....Pages 161-193 Conclusion....Pages 195-209 Back Matter....Pages 211-271