Kenichi Itō (politics)

ITO Ken'ichi
Born (1938-03-07) 7 March 1938
Tokyo, Japan
Nationality Japanese
Fields International relations
Political science
Strategic Studies
Institutions The Japan Forum on International Relations
The Global Forum of Japan
The Council on East Asian Community

ITO Ken'ichi (伊藤 憲一 Itō Ken'ichi, born 7 March 1938) is a diplomat-turned political scientist in Japan and is engaged in international politics and strategic studies. He has been president and CEO of The Japan Forum on International Relations (JFIR)[1] since it was founded in 1987 and now concurrently serves as chairman of The Global Forum of Japan (GFJ),[2] Chairman of The Council on East Asian Community (CEAC)[3] and Vice President of The Worldwide Support for Development (WSD).[4] He is Professor Emeritus of Aoyama Gakuin University and holds an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Cambodia.

Person

Born in Tokyo in 1938 and graduated from The Law School of Hitotsubashi University in 1960. Ito joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Japan in 1960. After studying at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Harvard University, he served as Third to First Secretaries in the Japanese Embassies in Moscow, Manila, and Washington and as Director of the First Southeast Asian Division until he left MOFA in 1977.

After MOFA, while teaching international politics at Aoyama Gakuin University (1980–2006), he concurrently served many other positions such as the Tokyo Representative of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) (1980–1987). He is also founder-presidents of such international-relations-based non-profit think tanks, as The Japan Forum on International Relations, The Global Forum of Japan, and The Council on East Asian Community.

He is the author of about twenty books, which include "Kokka to Senryaku" (State and Strategy), "Taikoku to Senryaku" (Great Powers and Strategy), "Futatsu no Shogeki to Nihon" (Japan's Response to The Two Shocks), "Chiheisen wo Koete" (Beyond the Horizon), and "Cho-kindai no Shogeki" (The Impact of Postmodern Civilization) and "Shin Senso-ron" (The Advent of the No-War Era).

Thought

Ito's thought on war and peace is systematically developed in such books of his as "State and Strategy" (1985) and "Advent of Non-War Era" (2007).[5] Ito posited that there is an origin to the concept of "war," suggesting that "war" is a social phenomenon, which occurs only when certain social conditions are met in a similar manner as they occur in other social phenomena, such as the "migration" and/or "business cycles.”

Therefore, he induces the logic that "war" could be subjected to control by managing the social conditions that surround human society. Ito says that war, rather than being a genetically embedded physiological phenomenon, is a social phenomenon that arose about 10,000 years ago, when a number of social changes took place. Then, Ito says that this change was caused by the development of human society from an unsettled hunter economy (Old Stone Age) to a settled farmer economy (New Stone Age). At this stage, "prototype states" referred to by Ito as "independent political units (IPU)" evolved from hunting kin groups into cultivating territorial groups, resulting in the conversion of the nature of the relations among "IPU" from the absence of "international relations" to the presence of such relations. According to Ito, herein is the origin of "war" as a social phenomenon. Ito says, first there was a "Pre-War Era" which extended up to the end of the Old Stone Age, and was followed by secondly a "War Era" until the end of the World War II, and thirdly a "No-War Era" from then up to the present and future.

Paraphrasing a proposition by Joseph Frankel, international political scientist, that "an international system exists only as a point between a political unity and a complete absence of such a unity," and another by Nakayama Ichiro, economist, that "general equilibrium is an ultimate state of interdependent economic phenomena having moved inevitably from absence of unity to unity," Ito presents a concluding theory that "any political systems have a built-in tendency to move from lower (national, regional) to higher (global) level of political unity.”

In reality, while the "War Era" had almost realized establishment of the five Regional Hegemonies by its innate logic of the 1st "Weapon Revolution" comprising invention of bows/arrows, swords/maces, this "Era" was demolished by the external shock of the logic of the 2nd "Weapon Revolution" comprising invention of guns and cannons. Thus, the history of "war" came to witness an advent of the "World Partitioning War Period," second phase of "War Era," with the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492. However, the pursuit of the tendency to move from lower (national to regional) to higher (global) level of political unity by the logic of the 2nd "Weapon Revolution" has become impossible because of the realization of the 3rd "Weapon Revolution" comprising the invention of the nuclear arms.

It is important to note that the humanity parted from the "War Era" when they signed the Kellogg–Briand No-War Pact of 1928, the UN Charter of 1945, etc. An act of "aggression" under whatever name has been declared illegal and the humanity opened the door of the "No-War Era." However, a global "No-War" regime has not yet been fully completed as the United Nations is effectively blocked to act by the veto power of the five countries. Here comes the importance of the advanced democracies including Japan, who share such values as freedom and democracy. If united, they could lead the way to and herald the advent of the "No-War Era" in the history of humanity. On the other hand, actors, governmental or not, who attempt to change the status quo by force must be criticized for their contradiction to the maintenance and development of the "No-war Community.”

Ito analyzes that within the 21st century global system what is to be called a "No-War Community" is currently being built. In this sense, Ito sides with those who believe in the progress of history. In this view of history, the "No-War Community" signifies an unprecedented stage attained by humanity.

References

  1. ↑ "President's Greeting – The Japan forum on international relations,inc". Jfir.or.jp. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  2. ↑ "Greeting – The Global Forum of Japan(GFJ)". Gfj.jp. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  3. ↑ "Greeting – The Council on East Asian Community". Ceac.jp. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  4. ↑ "Greetings from Kenichi Ito – Vice Chairman". En.wsd.or.jp. 17 November 2009. Retrieved 2015-09-20.
  5. ↑ "THE ADVENT OF NOWAR ERA : An Introductory Summary of "Shin Sensoron"" (PDF). Jfir.or.jp. Retrieved 2015-09-20.

External links

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