【Report】Summary of the lecture by Andrei Yamamoto

Title: Performing Green Leadership: A Poststructuralist Reading of Japan’s Asia Zero Emissions Community (AZEC) Initiative

22 May 2025

Climate change and sustainability pose unprecedented challenges for contemporary international relations. Some states have risen to the challenge through global partnerships, multilateral initiatives, and bilateral arrangements. In doing so, they engage in the construction or re-construction of a new or existing political identity. Through the Asia Zero Emissions Community (AZEC), a multilateral arrangement between Japan and member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Dr Andrei Yamamoto examines Japan’s (re)construction of a green political identity vis-à-vis ASEAN member states through a post-structuralist lens.

Dr Yamamoto began with a description of the origins and background of AZEC. A relatively recent arrangement initiated by Japan in 2024, AZEC aims to become a platform for cooperation between Japan and ASEAN member states to achieve carbon neutrality. He then proceeded to elaborate his research design, which analyzed discourses in Japanese leader’s speeches, policy documents, and news. Dr Yamamoto focused on identifying binary oppositions and rhetorical devices instrumentalized by Japanese leaders in conveying Japan’s political identity towards ASEAN member states. He found three forms of narratives—spatial, ethical, and temporal—that have been employed by Japan to reconstruct its preferred political identity through AZEC. These narratives define Japan’s geographical position vis-à-vis ASEAN members, its preference for modernization, and moral dedication towards ASEAN which constitute its preferred reconstructed political identity as a “leader” against climate change.

In the lively question-and-answer session, participants discussed methods of conducting discourse analysis, specifically on how to find significant meanings and drawing inferences. Participants also discussed Japan’s challenges in achieving the goals of AZEC, particularly within the context of great power politics. Dr Yamamoto also provided advice to the participants on how to conduct literature reviews and shared his experiences in publishing research in academic outlets.