Campo, Elena (A.A. 2022/2023) The New Era of Japan's Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition: Analysing the Diachronic External and Internal Impact on Japan's ICRRA. Tesi di Laurea in History of international relations, Luiss Guido Carli, relatore Silvia Menegazzi, pp. 110. [Master's Degree Thesis]

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Abstract/Index

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has seen many victims and has impacted more than the West. To the surprise of many, Japan has welcomed many asylum seekers, so much so that it has made academics, journalists, and political researchers if we are to witness a new era for the Japanese Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act. However, many are also sceptical and have denoted this Japanese intervention as an ‘extraordinary event’ and argue that Japan has not changed its views on refugees and that the country continues to ‘free ride’ regarding such humanitarian issues. This is mainly because the majority of Ukrainian asylum seekers were accepted as evacuees and not refugees which limits their rights and liberties. Most of the existing literature blames Japanese ‘scepticism’ towards asylum seekers on ethnonationalism. But is ethnonationalism the only valuable explanation for this ‘phobic’ attitude? Is Japan truly entering a new era of refugee recognition or has little to nothing changed during these troubled times? And if there has been a permanent change, how has the recent refugee crisis in Myanmar, Afghanistan and particularly in Ukraine impacted the ICRRA? This thesis aims to answer these questions and to test the hypothesis that Japan is indeed witnessing the dawn of a new era and that both external factors, such as the refugee crisis, and internal factors, such as NGOs, Japanese demography and the creation of new provisions for asylum seekers have opened the door to this new epoch. By adopting a two-level game theory, a theoretical framework introduced by Robert D. Putnam in 1998, I will analyse how both external and internal variables have played in inducing dramatic change. The two-level game theory perspective constitutes a distinct approach in foreign policy analysis and serves to reintegrate the subfields of comparative politics and international relations (Conceicao-Heldt & Mello, 2017). The reason as to why this framework is particularly useful in the context of this dissertation is that it recognises the inevitability of having to recognise that countries decision makers need to strive to reconcile domestic and international imperatives simultaneously (Putnam, 1988). To test the main hypothesis, I will conduct both a qualitative and quantitative analysis. The first is by performing a discourse analysis on the speeches of the Minister of Justice and the Prime Minister referencing refugees and asylum seekers. The latter will be done by carrying out data analysis on the actual number of refugees recognised for each refugee crisis selected and providing a detailed review of the different visas the asylum seekers of each country were provided and on what basis. By conducting both qualitative and quantitative analysis, this dissertation will provide a vast but at the same time detailed proof and documentation to test the main hypothesis and ultimately answer the research questions. Furthermore, the thesis will explore the concept of Japanese identity and study from a sociological point of view what lies behind and within Japanese identity and the concept of ‘和’(harmony). By taking into consideration the symbolic dimension of identity and by reifying said concept it will be possible to further comprehend the dynamics at play, explore the concept of identity from a new point of view, and observe how Japanese identity affects change in the country’s policies. Finally, the thesis will also include a chapter featuring the opinions and stances of the leading experts on the topic of both immigration control and refugee recognition in order not only to enrich the thesis but also to provide new, original literature that analyses the connections and political dynamics between such distant countries and regions. To conclude, the final chapter will analyse the various findings, answer the research questions proposed, integrate the scholar’s opinions to provide a complete bigger picture of the state of play and the way ahead and understand whether or not Japan is approaching a new era of Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition.

References

Bibliografia e sitografia: pp. 101-106.

Thesis Type:	Master's Degree Thesis
Institution:	Luiss Guido Carli
Degree Program:	Master's Degree Programs > Master's Degree Program in International Relations (LM-52)
Chair:	History of international relations
Thesis Supervisor:	Menegazzi, Silvia
Thesis Co-Supervisor:	Giordano, Alfonso
Academic Year:	2022/2023
Session:	Autumn
Additional Information:	Department of Political Science Double Master’s Degree Programme in International Relations Major in Diplomacy, Chair of Japan in International Affairs.
Deposited by:	Maria Teresa Nisticò
Date Deposited:	05 Jan 2024 08:14
Last Modified:	05 Jan 2024 08:14
URI:	https://tesi.luiss.it/id/eprint/37386

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