Event

The liberal international order emerged on a global scale at the end of the last century. The principles appeared with American independence and the French revolution in the latter 18th century. But humanity had to experience two world wars, revolution, dictatorship, the demise of colonial rule, the independence of Asian and African nations and the end of racial discrimination and other unjustifiable discriminations. It took two hundred years. The liberal international order is based upon universal values, and it should be sustained by the international community. But Western influence is shrinking. Can the West expand universal values and the liberal order into the Global South, in particular into Asia, which now boasts sixty percent of world population and economy? When Asians say they support universal values, are they talking about White Christian values or their own values? If the latter, do they see universal values as the same in East and West? My answer is “yes.” Nineteenth-century Indian philosopher, Swami Vivekananda, said there are many routes to climb the mountain, but there is only one summit. Japan can say the same with confidence because Japan struggled for one hundred and fifty years to integrate Western civilization with Japanese tradition.

Nobukatsu Kanehara is a professor in Doshisha University's Department of Political Science. He served as assistant chief cabinet secretary to Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe from 2012 to 2019. In 2013, Kanehara also became the inaugural deputy secretary-general of the National Security Secretariat, a role which he held until his retirement from government service in 2019. He also served as deputy director of the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office. Kanehara’s role in the cabinet built on a distinguished career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he served in a number of notable positions, including as director-general of the Bureau of International Law; deputy director-general of the Foreign Policy Bureau, and ambassador-in-charge of the United Nations and human rights. Kanehara served abroad as deputy chief of mission in Seoul, Republic of Korea and political minister at the Embassy of Japan in Washington. He was decorated by the President of France with l’Ordre de la Légion d’Honneur.