근대 일본의 국제질서인식과 대외정책론

Abstract

The Perception of Threat toward Russia and its Impact on Japanese Foreign Policy(1868-1904) Russia was one of the superpower at the international arena in the late 19th century. On the contrary Japan was a small power in the Far East even after the victory of Sino-Japanese war. Regardless of the clear difference of national power, what was the reason propelled Japan to wage the war with Russia in the early 20th century? It can be said that every foreign policy, including the decision of war, was based on the formation of threat perception among the important decision makers in a country. Considering the relationship between perception and real foreign policy, this paper raises such a question: how the perception of threat toward Russia had been evolved before the Russo-Japanese war(1904-05). Through the survey of policy papers and journalistic articles during the early Meiji period, I can find that there existed a perception of hierarchical international relations. Contrary to the Japan's lower position in the hierarchical order of world politics, Russia was considered as a symbolic superpower and a threat itself. To deter a possible threat from Russia, Japanese policy makers and intellectuals had suggested various proposals such as self-strengthening, balance of power, or outer expansion. Japanese policy makers and intelletuals put forward a cooperative or aggressive foreign policy toward neighboring Asian countries as a part of Japanese security policy toward a potential Russian threat. In sum, Japanese attitude toward its Asian neighboring countries in the early Meiji period should be analyzed in terms of Japanese security policy facing more awesome adversary like Russia.