Thinkers and political figures
Portrait: Photograph, 2012, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
Shinzo Abe
- Country
- Japan
- Era
- 1954–2022
- Tradition
- Conservative nationalism
Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, who combined aggressive monetary and fiscal stimulus with an attempt to loosen the pacifist constraints of the post-war constitution.
01
Documented positions
Documented positions come from the sources listed. Similarity is this project’s inference from those positions, and is a much weaker claim.
- Launched "Abenomics": monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and structural reform to end two decades of deflation
- Reinterpreted Article 9 of the constitution to permit collective self-defence, and sought formal revision
- Raised the consumption tax twice while cutting corporate tax rates
- Promoted "womenomics", setting targets for women’s workforce participation and expanding childcare
- Loosened restrictions on foreign workers in response to labour shortages, while resisting broader immigration
- Visited Yasukuni Shrine in 2013, drawing protests from China and South Korea
- Concluded the Trans-Pacific Partnership without the United States after its withdrawal
02
Where it sits on each dimension
Wealth and inequality
62
RedistributionMarket outcomes
Evidence: Well documented
The state in the economy
48
Active stateLimited state
Evidence: Well documented
Personal liberty
45
Collective orderIndividual freedom
Evidence: Documented
Tradition and change
30
ContinuityReform
Evidence: Documented
Nation and the world
84
InternationalistNationalist
Evidence: Well documented
Religion and the state
55
Secular stateReligion in public life
Evidence: Documented
Power and its limits
45
Concentrated authorityChecks and pluralism
Evidence: Documented
Environment and growth
40
Production firstProtection first
Evidence: Documented
Dimensions left unscored, for want of evidence: Crime and punishment
Sources
- Shinzo Abe, Towards a Beautiful Country · 2006
- Tobias Harris, The Iconoclast: Shinzo Abe and the New Japan · Hurst · 2020
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