【Report】Japan and the As-If International Systems: Strategic Performance in a Plural World

Kenki Adachi

On June 11, 2026, Kenki Adachi, Professor at Ritsumeikan University, gave a presentation on his recent book titled: Japan and the As-If International Systems: Strategic Performance in a Plural World.

Prof. Adachi began his presentation by explaining that, as the Liberal International Order weakens, there is a possibility that multiple competing orders overlap and coexist at the same time. He explained that his new book investigates what happens when multiple overlapping international orders coexist by examining a 2,000-year history of Japan’s engagement with various international orders.

The Ritsumeikan University professor explained that his argument in the book is that international orders are formed, maintained, and transformed—not through balance of power or shared norms as assumed by mainstream international relations theory—but through what he calls “as-if behavior.” As-if behavior is a strategic behavior an actor employs to behave as if they are following a particular norm or rule of a given international system. As-if behavior can produce an order by creating ambiguity that can lower the risk of diplomatic confrontation among actors.

Prof. Adachi explained that he seeks to elucidate how this overlooked mechanism of an ordering process produces stable patterns of actor interactions in international systems by examining Japan’s historical engagement with various international orders. He explained various historical case studies of how Japan and other states employed as-if behaviors to produce international orders.

Prof. Adachi concluded his presentation by emphasizing that as-if behavior is not unique to East Asia. He underscored that as-if behavior might be an important solution for dealing with the decline of the Liberal International Order today, as it helps carve out diplomatic space for states to coexist at a time when competing and overlapping orders are emerging.

During the Q&A, audience members asked many questions—such as those regarding the differences between as-if behavior and strategic ambiguity, the reasons as-if behaviors were important in East Asian orders, and geographical and technological factors that might have affected the emergence of as-if orders in the past.