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Salon Discussion with Prof. Yukio Maeda (Soka University of Japan): «Planet Politics 2.0: Potential Contribution from Japan»
On 5 March 2025, the EIB welcomed Prof. Yukio Maeda, who introduced his concept of Planet Politics 2.0, revolving around introducing non-western conceptions of natures with a strong focus on nature’s agency, into the discourse of international relations.
Drawing on the works of theorists like Dipesh Chakrabarty, Carl Schmitt, Bruno Latour, and Hedley Bull, and also taking inspiration from Japanese artist Taro Okamoto and folklore, Maeda highlighted the fact that the human species is not just waging war and conducting diplomacy among itself (as per the traditional outlook of the field international relations), but is simultaneously engaged in war, diplomacy, and great power conflict with nature. While the relationships between humans and nature cannot be characterized along purely humanocentric lines (for example, instances of gift giving between both sides are relational but not transactional), any study of the politics of the planet has to reckon with the agency of nature to transcend a static binary of the ‘human’ and the ‘more than human’ nature.
Dr. Yukio Maeda is a professor of international relations and peace studies at Soka University's Faculty of Law in Japan and a 2024-2025 visiting professor of the Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) at the University of Warwick. His research focuseson Planetary Politics, Political Thought of Peace, Popular Culture and World Politics and Critical Security Studies. He has worked extensively on planetary political theory and critical geopolitics in the Anthropocene, and in 2023 published a book in Japanese entitled ‘Planet Politics in the Anthropocene’.