ISDP Voices

On August 3, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe reshuffled his Cabinet for the third time since winning reelection in 2014. The changes came after a series of scandals this year which have damaged approval ratings and culminated in a landslide election loss in Tokyo. 14 out of 20 ministers are new, and key positions to […]

On June 23, election campaigns started for the Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly – the city’s local legislature. The elections, which take place on July 2, are seen as a referendum on Governor Yuriko Koike’s mandate to “clean up Tokyo’s politics”, but also, as a test for Shinzo Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) which has experienced declining […]

Over recent years, Japan’s constitution has been hotly debated. In large part dictated by the allied authorities at the end of World War Two, it is sometimes called the “Peace Constitution,” since its Article 9 stipulates that, “the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of […]

With exit polls strongly indicating that Democratic Party candidate, Moon Jae-in will become South Korea’s next president, here’s our round-up of his policy platform. North Korea A permanent and peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue is one of Moon’s top priorities. Accordingly, he has vowed to develop south Korea’s defense capabilities to counter threats from […]

On May 9, South Koreans head to the polls in arguably the country’s most important presidential election for decades. With former President Park Geun-hye impeached in a corruption scandal which saw her removed from office on March 10, parties have had just two months to appoint candidates and outline policy platforms. The challenges awaiting the […]

On May 9, South Koreans go to the polls to elect a new president to replace impeached former leader Park Geun-hye. Five candidates have put forward their policy priorities and agendas should they be elected. Whoever wins faces stiff challenges, both domestic and foreign, as Sangsoo Lee outlines below. Tackling Inequality and Population Greying South […]

The conflict on the Korean Peninsula has moved into a new and dangerous phase. North Korea’s rhetoric and unabated march towards ever greater missile and nuclear capability, combined with Trump’s erratic but hardline style, have many analysts seeking to draft the next chapter of the Korean story post-strategic patience. The dispatch of a U.S. navy strike group […]

During the past few decades China has gone through an extraordinary process of modernization. Due to economic development, urbanization and exchanges with the outside world, people in China today lead lives that are strikingly similar to the lives of people in the Western world. At the same time, there has been a return to the indigenous […]

The Internet is often described as a space for creativity, empowerment, and knowledge that builds on a vision of freedom and borderless connectivity. It is also regarded as an enabler of different human rights, with some even considering access to the Internet as a human right itself. But is this perspective shared by all, and what […]

By unpacking some of the key ideas within the human rights debate, this blog post argues that the debates and discussions surrounding human rights are essential for its promotion. The notion of human rights is heavily contested and politicized. After the Second World War when the human rights debate took center stage there were noticeable differences in conceptions of human […]