Grimes Discusses Leadership Under Japan’s New Prime Minister
William Grimes, Professor of International Relations and of Political Science and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, was quoted in a Penza News article discussing Japan’s newly elected Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga.
In the article, titled “Experts: Japan’s new Prime Minister not to significantly change country’s political course,” Grimes projected that Prime Minister Suga will likely not change the trajectory of Japanese policy. Grimes also speculated that Suga will not take the kind of leadership role his predecessor – Shinzo Abe – did when it comes to international affairs.
As Grimes explains in the article:
‘[Suga] is much less experienced in international relations than Abe and much less confident, so he is unlikely to take the kind of leadership role that Abe has assumed in recent years. The other main difference between Abe and Suga in international relation is that Suga does not have the same personal reputation as a historical revisionist or right-winger that Abe had when he became prime minister. In principle, this should remove an obstacle to improved relations with South Korea and China, although I think that their approaches to Japan typically have much more to do with their own domestic politics than with whoever the Japanese leader is.’
The full article can be read on Penza News‘ website.
William W. Grimes is Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University, where he has taught since 1996. He previously served as chair of the Department of International Relations and as the first director of the BU Center for the Study of Asia. He has also spent time as a post-doctoral researcher and as a visiting assistant professor at Harvard University. Read more about him here.