Unlike previous Topics of the Month, this one will have multiple authors as well as rejoinders. The idea for it arose from Francois Godement’s observations that the European powers are not much interested in becoming involved in the maritime struggles between China and its neighbors or in the North Korean nuclear crisis. Unlike the era of the Cold War, when developments tied to the global Soviet-US confrontation had ramifications in every region, Europeans have narrowed their sights. Not long thereafter came news of Togo Kazuhiko’s observation that Japanese and Russian national interests do not overlap in Ukraine, while he posited that the civilizational quest in both countries to cast off excessive westernization creates an opportunity for finding common cause. France and Japan both face the challenge of deciding to what extent they share a regional civilization with the longstanding objects of their respective civilizational debates—Russian and China—and the main object of recent civilizational differentiation—the United States. As they respond to an ally’s pressure to broaden their horizons in support of international security and “universal values,” and as they weigh how to balance the challenges from China and Russia to the world order, much can be learned about the nature of the civilizational divide ahead—in East and West—and its growing impact on international relations.

Read full article at www.theasanforum.org.