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Suddenly, the longest-serving prime minister in recent Japanese history, Shinzo Abe, announced his resignation on Friday. The explanation is a chronic illness that already forced him to leave office in his first term as head of government between 2006 and 2007. His recovery then allowed him to return in 2012 and provide a period of long stability to a normally volatile government system .
Abe's resignation at a critical political and social moment is not good news for Japan, an especially predictable country in an increasingly erratic and difficult-to-govern world. Although the Government has fought covid-19 better than most countries, the effects of the pandemic and recession have also eroded it and it has been forced to postpone the Olympic Games to 2021. For the opposition, its abrupt departure and the fight for the succession that has already been opened in the ruling liberal right will avoid having to answer to Parliament for the controversies linked to the management of the pandemic and also for some cases of corruption.
Abe has given stability to Japan at a time of crisis of multilateralism and maximum international disturbance, the result of the chaos sown by Donald Trump. One of the keys to his success has been his personal relationships with the President of the United States, cultivated with great patience from the day of his election. China's rise and expansionary ambitions, North Korea's nuclear danger and anti-Japanese misgivings in South Korea have added further complexity to these balances, which Abe has reasonably overcome with the support of an informal strategic forum, created on his own initiative. yours, as is the Quadrilateral Dialogue that unites Japan with the United States, India and Australia.
In economic policy, it has given its name to Abenomics, the set of stimulus measures through monetary expansion, fiscal stimuli and reforms of the rigidities of the system. Its results have been uneven, especially in the chapter on reforms, and are very visibly expressed in the absence of women in Japanese political life, despite the objective of their full incorporation into public life as a whole.
Nor have the Abe years meant substantial changes in Japan's military and international position, as the revisionism of its program intended. There has been no reform of the Constitution, drawn up by the United States as the victorious force after the war, by which Japan forever renounced war and the use of force in the resolution of conflicts. Instead, Abe succeeded in passing legislation that allows his defense forces to intervene in support of an ally when it is attacked, in keeping with the symmetrical commitment of its partners.