21st Century COE Program Archive

2004-04

Summary：
Date：	November 27, 2004
Location：	Ohtemachi Sunsky Room, Tokyo
Title：	Supporting Ground for U.S. Conservatives and Positioning of the Religious Right
Speaker：	Toshihiro Nakayama (The Japan Institute of International Affairs)
Title：	Polarized America: Whether Relationships with the Rest of the World Can Be Restored
Speaker：	Toshiaki Miura (Asahi Shimbun)
Dr. Nakayama’s lecture can be summarized as follows: The conservatives in the U.S. have proposed new visions of the future. From these it is clear that U.S. conservatives are quite different from those among the Japanese or the Europeans. Viewed in a historical light, the American conservatives, responding to the cultural upheaval of the sixties and the seventies, have made efforts to gain the New Religious Right’s support. The conservatives have succeeded in this. The Religious Right has now emerged as a great influence on the Republican Party, although this does not necessarily mean that they dominate the party. That is, the party cannot be subject only to their assertions in order to achieve or maintain the administration of the government. Pluralism makes the party compromise with different groups to some degree. In this sense, the Religious Right is one of several influential groups within the Republican Party, not the dominant group. Moreover, the Republicans have succeeded in getting support from some Democrats. The Democratic Party lost the Presidential Election in 2004. So they need to undergo reorganization, and it seems that they will have difficulty in achieving it. Mr. Miura reported the following in his lecture: As a ‘statesman soldier,’ Colin Powell, who experienced combat duty in the Vietnam War, has displayed great ability in managing conflicts between the civilian and military branches in Washington. While chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff he contributed to the victory of the 1991 Gulf War and, as a result, gained the admiration of many people, including leaders of the Republican Party. However, they did not nominate him as a vice-presidential candidate in the Republican presidential nominations in 1996. Conservatives in the party objected to Powell, who advocated liberal policies such as Affirmative Action. It is said that Secretary of State Powell had conflicts with neoconservatives within the Bush administration, such as Paul Wolfowitz, over diplomatic policies. As a pragmatist, he did not propose new foreign policies as extensively as the neoconservatives have. He has acted as a representative of the Department of State. Condoleeza Rice, who is a scholar of Russian affairs and will be Secretary of State in the second Bush administration, has avoided collisions over various policy matters. She has been loyal to President George W. Bush. U.S. foreign policy is not likely to change under her. Teruaki Koide (COE Promoted Researcher, Graduate Student, Graduate School of Law, Doshisha University)