Abstract:
Japan's foreign policy has been a topic that has attracted the attention of
international political analysts, especially under the leadership of Shinzo Abe. The
previous foreign policy, namely Pacifism, was considered to have pushed Japan
into a passive actor, especially in security matters. However, Shinzo Abe's long
administration has successfully pushed Japan's foreign policy change from Pacifism
to Proactive Contribution to Peace Based on International Cooperation, better
known as Proactive Pacifism, introduced in the National Security Strategy. This
policy change was the first time in Japan after World War II's defeat and facilitated
changes in Japan both domestically and internationally. This thesis aims to analyze
the factors that prompted Japan to make changes in foreign policy under the
government of Shinzo Abe. This thesis will use qualitative methods by processing
primary and secondary data from various sources. To analyze further, this thesis
will use the concept of an adaptive model of foreign policy from James Rosenau.
The results of this study indicate that changes in Japan's foreign policy are adaptive
behavior that is strongly driven by external and internal change factors. This result
shows that changes in Japan's foreign policy are a form of preservative adaptation.
