An innovative model for understanding how emotion shapes perceptions of Japan and influences its diplomacy
For countries, national image matters. Although Japan is often ranked among the most popular countries in the world, its negative image in China and South Korea bedevils its diplomacy with these two close neighbors. If Japan wishes to improve its image in these two countries—one, its largest trading partner; the other, a key strategic ally—it must gain a better understanding of how this image is formed.
Japan and the Emotional Politics of National Image examines the way emotion shapes perceptions of Japan and influences its diplomacy. Kowert traces how the emotional dynamics of international relations delineate shifts in national image that cannot be explained solely by geopolitics, domestic politics, or historical memory. With evidence drawn from case histories, statements by leading politicians, and text analyses of newspapers, the book reveals that Chinese and Korean attitudes toward Japan are more variable than is commonly appreciated and vary in ways that can be predicted by improved models of political emotion.
With this book, scholars of international relations and of Japanese and Asian politics will gain new insights into Japan's anxieties about its own image abroad.
Reviews
"In Japan and the Emotional Politics of National Image, Paul Kowert explores China's and South Korea's postwar relations with Japan, bringing fresh insights into a thorny and contested field. This excellent book's parsimonious, cohesive model of politics and emotion makes an innovative contribution to our understanding of regional dynamics and about the relationships between affect and power."—David Leheny, Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University
"This well-researched and thought-provoking book shows that even though attitudes toward Japan tend to be negative in China and Korea, they nonetheless fluctuate more than is usually appreciated. To explain such variations, Kowert develops a novel theory that accounts for different patterns of emotions in international relationships."—Karl Gustafsson, senior lecturer and associate professor, Swedish Defence University
"What shapes international images? How have China and South Korea viewed Japan? Accessibly written for academics, analysts, and general audiences, this erudite study by Kowert powerfully demonstrates why images matter and how anger, fear, and disdain over thorny political pasts politically drive an image's present, and future, formation."—Brent Steele, University Distinguished Professor and Francis D. Wormuth Presidential Chair, University of Utah
About the Author
Paul A. Kowert is an associate professor and chairperson of the Department of Political Science at the University of Massachusetts Boston. He is a specialist in East Asian foreign policy and coauthor of Cultures of Order: Leadership, Language and Social Reconstruction in Germany and Japan.
