Stephanie Lawson

War memories and Japan’s ‘normalization’ as an international actor: A critical analysis

The paradigmatic case in which an almost permanent impasse exists in coming to terms with a difficult war past and ‘normalizing’ its international relations is that of Japan. Although successive Japanese governments have apologized over the last few decades, these have been countered by periodic episodes within Japan revolving largely around history textbooks, the remembrance of war dead and the quest by nationalists to restore national pride in the past. Regional relations were especially strained during the premiership of Koizumi Juni’chirô and his immediate successor, Abe Shinzô. They improved under Fukuda Yasuo, a moderate on war memory issues, and remained steady under Asô Tarô. Japan’s latest prime minister, Hatoyama Yukio, appears determined to address Japan’s war past more openly and critically than previous LDP figures, no doubt with an eye to improving Japan’s relations with its Asian neighbours. But whatever line he pursues, contestation over war memories will remain an issue. They are driven by deep divisions within Japan at the same time that political leaders seek a more prominent identity for Japan as a ‘normal’ actor in international affairs. This article analyses key aspects of the politics of Japan’s war memories, using insights from collective memory studies and constructivist IR theory. We suggest that the quest for ‘normality’ has generated a set of tensions and contradictions over the issue of war memories, both domestically and internationally, for which there is no resolution in sight.

'The Pacific way' as postcolonial discourse : towards a reassessment

In 2005, an entry entitled ‘Pacific Way’ appeared in a collection of essays on postcolonial thought. While this seems unremarkable, it invites questions concerning both the Pacific Way idea and the nature of postcolonial critique. This article is especially concerned to examine the specific circumstances in which the term was initially articulated and the precise meaning with which it was imbued. Although the Pacific Way acquired some ‘postcolonial’ characteristics in subsequent years, it was evidently anything but in its original formulation. Rather, it was a conservative discourse embracing notions of class hierarchy common to elites among both colonisers and colonised. This brings into question the status of the Pacific Way as a postcolonial discourse, and whether postcolonialisms ‘anticoloniality’ is in fact hospitable to indigenous hegemony, thus undermining its general anti-hegemonic credentials.

Melanesia: The History and Politics of an Idea

The term ‘Melanesia’ is a partly geographic, partly cultural referent to a subregion of the island Pacific that has become very much part of ordinary descriptive language along with terms categorising other parts of the Pacific island world, namely Polynesia and Micronesia. Yet ‘Melanesia’ is much more than a descriptor. The term has been loaded with significance in a variety of ways, carrying with it both negative and positive connotations. This paper provides an overview of the way in which the idea of Melanesia has developed, from its origins in racialist ethnography through to the postcolonial period. It suggests that, although a number of scholars now find the term problematic because of its historical associations with European exploration and colonisation and the racism embedded in these, ‘Melanesia’ has acquired a positive meaning and relevance for many of those to whom the term applies.The term ‘Melanesia’ is a partly geographic, partly cultural referent to a subregion of the island Pacific that has become very much part of ordinary descriptive language along with terms categorising other parts of the Pacific island world, namely Polynesia and Micronesia. Yet ‘Melanesia’ is much more than a descriptor. The term has been loaded with significance in a variety of ways, carrying with it both negative and positive connotations. This paper provides an overview of the way in which the idea of Melanesia has developed, from its origins in racialist ethnography through to the postcolonial period. It suggests that, although a number of scholars now find the term problematic because of its historical associations with European exploration and colonisation and the racism embedded in these, ‘Melanesia’ has acquired a positive meaning and relevance for many of those to whom the term applies.

Political Studies and the Contextual Turn: A Methodological/Normative Critique

Recent developments in political studies have seen much greater attention paid to ideas about history, culture and associated notions of context. This reflects, at least in part, a dissatisfaction with positivism and modernist empiricism and an interest in alternative methodologies and epistemologies. As part of this general development, the language of non-traditional approaches to politics has become replete with the language of contextualism, emphasising specificity, particularity and contingency. There is certainly much to be welcomed in the turn away from an ahistorical, objectivist and materialist positivism towards more nuanced approaches. Contingency attends virtually every development in human affairs, making predictability a very inexact science. And facts simply do not speak for themselves. They are made to speak in different ways by different people located in varying positions of power and influence and with particular agendas or projects. Thus the notion that adequate explanations of political practices and actions can be obtained in the absence of a narrative account of the beliefs that sustain them is indeed difficult to defend. Even so, critiques of objectivist approaches which substitute specific historical and/or cultural contexts for universals may turn out simply to be using another method of objectification. Furthermore, far from providing a critique of domination, I argue that key aspects of the contextualist turn actually reinforce it. So while agreeing with the general point that attention to context, both historical and cultural, is essential to good political analysis, this article is nonetheless critical of key aspects of contextual approaches. In addition, it highlights certain difficulties in devising a general theory of context due to some important contradictions between cultural and historical versions of methodological contextualism which have so far gone unnoticed.

Sanitizing ethnicity: The creation of Singapore's apolitical culture

Since it came to power over 40 years ago, Singapores governing party is generally considered to have achieved not only remarkable economic growth, but also to have created a high degree of social and political stability in circumstances which seemed conducive to neither in the earlier stages of Singapores development. These circumstances included an ethnically diverse population perceived as prone to violence and therefore a significant threat to the very survival of the nation. The article demonstrates that the governments approach to the management of ethnicity has resulted not only in the depoliticization of ethnicity, but the depoliticization of virtually all aspects of government. Thus Singapore does not have a ‘political culture’ so much as an ‘apolitical culture’ in which there is almost no legitimate space for political opposition. To accept this as a model for ethnic management is to endorse the notion that ethnic relations are not only inherently conflictual, but that they cannot be managed via more open, democratic methods of government.

Regional integration, development and social change in the Asia–Pacific: implications for human security and state responsibility

Regional integration is generally seen as having positive security outcomes with respect to traditional inter-state relations as well as economic growth. However, there are also negative social and economic effects, which the broader concept of human security is useful in focusing attention on. The main aim of the article is to highlight some of the negative human security outcomes produced by the dynamic processes that have underscored regionalization in the Asia–Pacific in recent years. A further aim is to question what this means in terms of state responsibility. Given that states are ‘social protection providers’ of last resort, this is an important issue. This function has been largely ignored in neoliberal agendas that have sought to promote market reforms while actively undermining the role and capacity of the state. The state has also had a bad press from other quarters, including the human rights/human security lobby. While agreeing with the general point of the refrain that ‘human rights are not state rights’, I suggest that those who might welcome a weakening of the state per se in the cause of human security should think twice.

Constitutional change in Fiji: The apparatus of justification

Abstract The discriminatory racial and other non‐democratic provisions which feature in the new constitution of the ‘Sovereign Democratic Republic of Fiji’ have been justified by the regime, at least superficially, on the grounds that they are essential for the protection and enhancement of indigenous Fijian rights and interests. This justification is underscored by two further related, claims which serve to promote the view that western democratic principles and practices are unsuitable to Fijis political environment. First, the nature of Fijis plural society is said to constitute a prima facie barrier to the peaceful conduct of western‐style democratic politics. Secondly, it is claimed that the 1970 Constitution of Fiji represented the imposition of essentially alien values on a pre‐existing ‘traditional’, and more legitimate, political framework. The purpose of this article is to evaluate these claims and to demonstrate that the new constitution is, in most respects, an instrument of Fijian chiefly d...

Culture, democracy, and political conflict management in Asia and the Pacific: An agenda for research

Abstract One of the most problematic political issues in the late twentieth century is the relationship between culture and democracy which is, in turn, related to issues concerning the resolution of political conflict within state boundaries as well as between states. One purpose of this article is to provide an outline of these concerns with special reference to problems arising from cultural relativist perspectives on political institutions and practices on the one hand, and universalist assumptions on the other. In addition, it will be argued that the new agenda in the academic study of international relations can clearly benefit from the insights provided by a number of other social science disciplines. At the same time, it will be shown that disciplines concerned with such matters as democratic theory also need to broaden their scope of enquiry to the sphere of international politics.

Fiji's communal electoral system: A study of some aspects of the failure of democratic politics in Fiji

Abstract The unique communal system which operated in Fiji from independence in 1970 until the coup of 1987 was ostensibly designed to ensure the equitable distribution of seats in the Fiji House of Representatives among the major racial groupings as a means of promoting political stability. The way in which the system was constructed, however, gave rise to gross imbalances in the ‘racial’ composition of both government and opposition parties. The aim of this article is to explore this and other problems associated with the system and to suggest that far from providing the political stability intended by the architects of the 1970 Constitution, the communal electoral system contributed substantially to the failure of democratic politics in Fiji.

Indigenous Nationalism, “Ethnic Democracy,” and the Prospects for a Liberal Constitutional Order in Fiji

The failure of democracy in Fiji is usually attributed to an ethnically fractured polity in which indigenous Fijians have asserted superior rights over those of immigrant communities, especially those of Indian descent. In 1987, an indigenous-dominated military ousted a government elected largely on the strength of Indo-Fijian votes, as did a civilian-led coup in 2000. Another in 2006, however, has confounded explanations of Fijis politics based on a simple dichotomy of interests between indigenous Fijians and Indo-Fijians when the military toppled a government controlled by indigenous nationalists. A constitutional review process, supervised by the military and purportedly leading to a new, liberal constitution enshrining political equality for all ethnic groups in Fiji, is now in train. This article focuses on the historic production of indigenous nationalism and the demand for “ethnic democracy” and an assessment of the prospects for future constitutional government along inclusive liberal lines.