Streszczenie
The aim of this chapter is to examine the efficiency of Prime Minister Abe’s hardline
policy towards North Korea under his second administration. The analysis is
conducted through the lenses of neoclassical realism. Apart from domestic factors
(Abe’s “hawkish” convictions and anti-North Korean moods among the public in
Japan), external stimuli will be examined, such as the US’s sudden shift towards
soft-power policy vis-à-vis Pyongyang under the Trump administration and its
impact on Tokyo’s foreign policy. It is argued that while ideological leanings of
decision makers influenced the pace and intensity of diplomatic endeavors, it
is the international determinants that delineated the general course of Japan’s
foreign policy.