International Politics and Japan Concerning the Environment and Energy Resources

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Other Title
  • 環境と資源問題をめぐる国際政治と日本
  • カンキョウ ト シゲン モンダイ オ メグル コクサイ セイジ ト ニホン

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Abstract

<p>The 1970s was the decade of turmoil and uncertainties that began with the US President’s unilateral abandonment of the convertibility of the US dollar to gold and his policy of a rapprochement with China. Besides, both environmental problems and energy security became international agendas in the early 1970s and further complicated the world situations. The UN Conference on Human Environment was held in Stockholm in 1972, while the oil crises erupted in 1973 and 1979, shaking the world twice. Since Japan suffered from severe industrial pollution problems in the 1960s and 70s, the Japanese were concerned about international environmental issues. However, oil crises were more acute and grave difficulties for energy-scarcity Japan than ecological matters. Having been divided into foreign policy choices between pro-Arabian oil-exporting countries and pro-US, the Japanese government eventually took the side of the Arabian countries while stressing the importance of maintaining a stable international oil market.</p><p>Two oil crises contributed to forging Japanese energy policies at home to promote the development of nuclear energy, coal gasification technologies while pursuing the policy of energy conservation. Meanwhile, in the mid-1980s, global environmental problems such as climate change and the loss of biodiversity have become global agenda. Above all, the substantive reduction of the emissions of anthropogenic greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels has now become imperative to mitigate climate change. The 2015 Paris Agreement calls on the zero-emissions of CO2 by 2050. Even though Japan contributed to the conclusion of the Kyoto Protocol in 1997, it has not taken a leadership role since then. Why is that so, and how can we explain Japan’s unwillingness to introduce a cap-and-trade emission trading system and renewable energies on a massive scale to address climate change?</p><p>The combination of politics of vested interest with the perspectives of historical institutionalists can explain best about the nexus between Japan’s rigid energy policy and the mal performance in its climate diplomacy. A vested interest group, which seeks to maintain the status quo to impede the massive introduction of renewable energy so as to oppose active climate change policy, forms a policy coalition consisting of concerned bureaucracies, industries, and politicians. This article argues that two oil crises in the 1970s and the energy policies to overcome these crises are critical not only to generate the vested interest group but also to shape socio-economic, political, and legal institutions to support a distinct energy system that later became a major stumbling block to the development of renewable energies and active climate diplomacy.</p>

Journal

  • International Relations

    International Relations 2020 (200), 200_151-200_167, 2020-03-31

    JAPAN ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS

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