Abstract

The main question of the proposed thesis is: what was the guiding principle of Japanese diplomacy during the Asian Financial Crisis (AFC) in the late 1990s and how did this principle help the countries in the region restore the Asian economy? My argument is that Japan responded to the Asian Financial Crisis as a middle power country and mediated opposing interests between Asia and the United States in order to stabilize the highly damaged Asian economy and prevent a recurrence of another crisis. Since the end of the Second World War, the United States led many countries in the free world by helping devastated nations, intentionally taking on more financial burden and using international institutions such as the IMF. On the other hand, demolished states such as West Germany and Japan enjoyed privilege to focus on economic reconstruction. Overall, a large number of countries became increasingly wealthier under Pax Americana. However, the US economic supremacy gradually declined inversely proportional to the rapid growth of recovering nations, benefiting from the US hegemony. In addition, more and more developing economies participated in international regimes. In order to reflect those new comers, a new concept was created as well as some actors in the Hegemonic Stability Theory, which is the middle power. A middle power is an actor, which leads others as a facilitator and relatively stronger; but, cannot compete with great powers. As the middle power initiates and represents a coalition of willing in negotiation, it is required to arrange interests fairly among the members and with the hegemon, in other words, the United States. It is possible for the middle power to restrain and modify behaviors of the hegemonic power by taking advantage of collective bargaining power. However, it does not mean that the middle power rejects cooperation with the hegemon because it needs the strongest country to achieve the goal of the group and its success depends on the stability of the economic status quo. In order to argue that Japan was a middle power during the crisis, I demonstrate that Australian developed middle power diplomacy during the GATT Uruguay Round; but was not successful enough because it was not persistently fair between the United States and the European Community. I affirm that Japan played a role of middle power even though Japan failed to get its original plan supported to establish Asian Monetary Fund in the early stage of the Asian Financial Crisis. Japan was force to withdraw the plan after it was rejected but the retreat was just a tactical error. As a result of a series of initiatives as a whole package, Japan turned the misfortune into a blessing. The country worked together with the United States and utilized a new framework, ASEAN plus Three.

Department

Political Science Department

Degree Name

MA in Political Science

Graduation Date

2-1-2015

Submission Date

February 2016

First Advisor

Maswood, Javed

Committee Member 1

Soltan, Gamal

Committee Member 2

Bahi, Riham

Extent

81 p.

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Rights

The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy.

Institutional Review Board (IRB) Approval

Not necessary for this item

Comments

I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr Javed Maswood for his supervision, vital encouragement and introduction to one of his old colleague in Australia. I would also like to thank Dr Gamal Soltan, my first reader, whose understanding and support are greatly appreciated, as well as Dr Riham Bahi, my second reader, who gave me valuable advice on my research. I also wish to thank Professor Purnendra Jain, of the University of Adelaide in Australia, who suggested some key readings on the topic to consult and also generously allowed me to borrow several books from his personal library as well as for his useful feedback on my thesis. Without persistent supports from the Writing Center for non-native speaker of English, I would not have been able to complete my thesis in English, which is my second language. I would also like to express my gratitude to the American University in Cairo for providing me with the Vanessa B. Korany Thesis Support Award during Fall 2015. I feel extraordinarily fortunate to receive the award, in particular because I studied under Dr. Korany in my first semester and have a great deal of respect for him and his work. My family also deserves special mention of their support throughout the years of my study in Cairo. I would like to wholeheartedly thank my wife Erin, my parents in Japan and parents-law in Australia. Their thoughtful support greatly helped me to get through this challenging time. Finally, I would like to thank everyone else who contributed to my Master’s thesis.

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