London: Hurst Publishers, 2020. 392 pp. US$29.95, cloth. ISBN 9781787383104.
Japan’s recently resigned Prime Minister Shinzō Abe is often described as one of Japan’s most influential prime ministers ever, yet despite first becoming prime minister in 2006 at the age of 52 (Japan’s youngest prime minister to date) and being Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, there had not been a comprehensive English-language biography of Abe until now. Moreover, while there have been many articles and several books that have examined Abe’s policies as prime minister, including his foreign policies, the continuing evolution of Japan’s expanding regional and global security roles under Abe’s influence merits an additional volume on this subject. Together these two books offer in non-specialized language accessible to a general reader detailed coverage of Abe’s family ties to politics, entry into politics, rise to the premiership, and style and substance of governing—with a special focus on the likely legacy of Abe’s policy choices while in office.
The Iconoclast provides the more sweeping scope of the two books, beginning with the roles of Abe’s family forebears in Japan’s early constitutional history in the nineteen century all the way through the early months of the global Covid-19 pandemic that swept the world in 2020. The Abe Doctrine examines one of Abe’s most visible legacies as prime minister, the revamping of Japan’s security policies and institutions, and the expansion of Japan’s security-provider roles regionally and globally—an issue area that Harris also covers in a more chronological fashion. Both works utilize extensive Japanese- and English-language secondary literature as well as a wide range of media reporting and Japanese government documents. Moreover, both are solidly grounded in academic scholarship while focusing more on the policy outcomes and back stories to aspects of Abe’s life and continuing legacy.
As a comprehensive biography, Harris’s monograph devotes over half of its 335 pages of main text to the years prior to Abe’s extended term as prime minister, from December 2012 through September 2020. Although with a natural focus on the extended Abe family, the early chapters of the book also provide a concise and clear introduction to the world of Japanese politics from its emergence as a constitutional monarchy in the late nineteen century through the rise of Japan as an imperial power, its defeat in the Second World War, and its re-birth as a democratic, economic superpower in the postwar period (chapters 2 and 3). General readers should find of interest the powerful political family that Abe descends from, including that both his grandfather (Nobusuke Kishi) and his great uncle (Eisaku Satō) were postwar prime ministers, and that Abe succeeded his father (Shintarō Abe, who rose to become foreign minister) in his Diet seat. It is useful that Harris includes a one-page family tree at the start of the book to help illuminate the somewhat Japan-specific traditions related to adoption that pepper Abe’s family tree—which explains, for example, why Abe’s brother (current Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi) has a different surname from Abe. This section of the book reads more in the spirit of a biography, providing amusing anecdotes and vivid imagery of Shinzō Abe’s world in his early years.
Sixteen additional chapters continue in a largely chronological progression from Abe’s election as a member of the Diet in 1993 (chapter 4) through various leadership roles and ultimately to his first, brief term as prime minister in 2006–2007, then back “in the wilderness” (chapter 10) and “the comeback” (chapter 11), and then in the final seven chapters on Abe’s policies, governing style, and legacy as prime minister from 2012–2020. These chapters read both as a biography of Abe as well as a chronicle of major political and foreign policy developments in Japan from 2006 to 2020. It is useful to see the (geo)political context of Abe’s rise and time in power, but also makes it difficult for Harris to maintain a cohesive narrative and assert broader points beyond the chronology. Still, as the only available comprehensive English-language biography of Abe, perhaps better to have erred on the side of inclusion to allow for a diverse pool of readers to find the information and context they seek.
Harris draws on a wide range of sources, including general scholarly literature in English, but in particular is able to utilize several Japanese-language biographies of Abe which are liberally cited throughout the book (though, unfortunately, Japanese-language citations are listed only in Japanese characters and without English-language title translations). Ninety-five pages of notes to the main text reveal a rich treasure-trove for scholars wishing to pursue specialized topics further, particularly for those who read Japanese. Harris’s varied background as a doctoral student, writer of a long-lived political blog on Japanese politics, and consultant on Japan is evident in the impressive breadth of sources and analysis.
There is not one key take-away in Harris’s tome. Instead, Harris generally presents multiple viewpoints on Abe’s policies and his legacy, leaving the reader to draw their own conclusions on what inspired his actions. The final two chapters and the afterword focus on potential legacies in foreign and domestic policy. While Harris frames these final pages as essentially a toss-up regarding whether Abe will have a memorable set of legacies, he also makes two important points related to the future of Japan: first, that “Abe demonstrated the limits of strong leadership” (326); and second, that “Japan’s most momentous decisions still lie ahead” (326). The latter point is developed by listing the many challenges Japan faces (economic, diplomatic, and demographic among them), which Abe could not have reasonably been expected to have solved despite his longest-ever years as prime minister. The former point, however, about the limits of executive power in Japan, illustrates well the special set of talents Harris brings to his analysis, matching an evident fascination with the minutiae of Japanese politics with a broader, scholarly interest in Japan’s political development. This reviewer’s view is that there are several candidates for Japan’s most influential postwar prime minister, but agrees that only time will tell whether Abe will be placed in that group.
The so-called “Abe Doctrine” provides a bridge between the two books reviewed here, which Harris initially mentions in chapter 12 and develops further in chapter 13 and beyond. Harris writes that Abe’s “approach to the world was distinct enough from the Yoshida Doctrine’s vision of Japan’s place in the world to merit a new name—the Abe Doctrine” (224), but apart from listing a number of different aspects of Abe’s vision, it is not clear from The Iconoclast which tenets would define this new doctrine, and how we would measure if it continues beyond the Abe era. Akimoto seeks to address this question, though he is also not able to clearly articulate what defines an Abe Doctrine beyond difference to his predecessors’ approaches.
Like The Iconoclast, Akimoto’s book also benefits from his varied career path, including as a former professor as well as a political secretary in Japan’s House of Representatives working with the minority coalition partner to the ruling party, the Kōmeitō. The Kōmeitō is supported in particular by the religious group known as the Sōka Gakkai, which espouses as one of its core principles an interest in global peace. As such, the party is widely seen as exerting a moderating influence on Abe’s goal of Japan engaging in more proactive security policies, a point Harris also stresses and which Akimoto explains in his chapter 4 discussion of the Diet debates over the important new security legislation passed in 2015 that constitutes one of Abe’s most enduring legacies.
The Abe Doctrine consists of eight substantive chapters plus a very short introduction and conclusion. Two of the chapters that have been published previously as scholarly articles are also the chapters that provide the greatest new contributions to our understanding of aspects of what Akimoto and others (including Harris) have come to call “the Abe Doctrine.” The book also includes a 31-page bibliography of Japanese and English sources (largely government documents and media reporting) and an 11-page index.
Just as The Iconoclast covers more ground than just Shinzō Abe, The Abe Doctrine also addresses more than just Abe—in particular engaging with the very meaning of Japan’s “pacifism” and how Abe sought to coopt the term by repeatedly using a Japanese phrase that directly translates as “proactive pacifism” (sekkyokuteki heiwashugi), but is more commonly in English translated as “proactive contributions to peace.” Akimoto explains this distinction in his first substantive chapter (chapter 2) and continues an examination of this theme throughout the volume. For those who do not speak Japanese, or are new to this subject area, this chapter will be of particular value to understand an important theme in postwar Japanese foreign policy beyond just the Abe Doctrine focus of the book. Similarly, readers new to this topic will find useful the following chapter’s overview discussion of 15 potential security scenarios (or “cases” as Akimoto calls them) that Japan might face in the future and that the Abe government sought to explain to the Japanese public during the lead up to passage of the new security legislation in 2015. Those who follow Japanese security policy more closely will be familiar with the graphics included in the chapter from countless Japanese television broadcasts that illustrate the cases, but still may find useful the concise summaries and commentary provided by Akimoto in this chapter.
Subsequent chapters of the Akimoto volume address more directly the so-called Abe Doctrine, including the final substantive chapter (chapter eight) that notes that this term “Abe Doctrine” is not (yet) in wide use in Japan but rather is a contestation point among scholars and analysts that gets to the essence of the Abe legacy. Before that sum-up discussion of whether the Abe Doctrine amounts to a new “grand strategy” for Japan, chapters four through seven examine specific and important aspects of the Abe administration’s security policies that might be construed as aspects of an Abe doctrine: exercising the right of collective self defense (chapter 4), strengthening of ballistic missile defense (chapter 5), deepening the Japan-US alliance (chapter 6), and the latest case of Japan’s contribution to United Nations Peacekeeping [in South Sudan] (chapter 7). Not much new ground is covered in these chapters, which to some extent have been overtaken by developments since the publication of the book, but the overviews are concise and well-convey the main challenges Japan (and Abe) has faced. Moreover, each of these case chapters further develops the central theme of the book about “the legal and political implications of the [2015] Peace and Security Legislation” (3).
In sum, Akimoto’s The Abe Doctrine provides a very solid introduction to the complex terrain of Japan’s military security policies that increasingly have both breadth and depth beyond what most readers will be familiar with—without deluging the reader with details or using difficult jargon. Akimoto also weaves in references to the major international relations theories and some of the latest scholarship from these schools of thought, but a detailed analysis of any one of these schools is not the goal of his book. After finishing the book, a reader will come away with a nuanced understanding of the complexity of Abe’s legacy and be better able to explore the many threads of this legacy and the motivations behind Abe’s decisions in other scholarly and popular writings.
Japan’s political system has a history of former prime ministers continuing to serve in the Diet and also of playing a backroom role in advising the government. Abe’s grandfather, former Prime Minister Kishi Nobusuke, served for almost two decades in the Diet after he stepped down as prime minister, and even longer in a backroom role. Although Shinzō Abe resigned for health reasons in September 2020, his relatively youthful age of 66 (at the time of this writing) suggests that both his legacy and future contributions will continue to shape Japanese politics and foreign policy for many years to come, and thus that a careful read of these two fine books is well worth the time both for scholars and for other watchers of Japan and the Indo-Pacific region.
Washington College, Chestertown