Dr Wrenn Yennie Lindgren on "Recognition and ´³²¹±è²¹²Ô’s Post-Coup Diplomacy in Myanmar and Afghanistan"
About the Talk
How do states engage with post-coup countries that they do not maintain diplomatic relations with? Probing different forms of recognition, this talk considers the cases of ´³²¹±è²¹²Ô’s post-coup diplomacy with Myanmar and Afghanistan, countries that have recently undergone coups (both in 2021) and where Japan has had high economic and political stakes yet has still relinquished formal relations. Coups put constraints on traditional channels of diplomacy and often lead to alternative approaches to engagement and recognition. Considering howJapan has adapted its policies in terms of magnitude, span and content to remain engaged, it is argued that Japan has developed its own distinct form of post-coup diplomacy that involves a pragmatic approach to engagement and implied forms of recognition through the intricate workings of a combination of conventional and unconventional government agents and multiple tracks. How has Japan crafted its post-coup relations amid intensifying great power dynamics on the one hand, and a changing domestic policy agenda for foreign aid and security on the other?
Event Details
13th of May, 2026
10.15-11.30 (UK Time)
S0.08, Social Sciences Building and online
About the Speaker
is a Senior Research Fellow and Head of Center for Asian Research at the Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), as well as an Associate Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (UI). Her research focuses on international relations in East Asia and the Indo-Pacific, foreign policy legitimation, the politics and foreign policy of Japan, traditional and non-traditional security issues and Asia-Arctic diplomacy. Wrenn’s peer-reviewed work has appeared in, inter alia, The Hague Journal of Diplomacy, The Pacific Review, Japanese Journal of Political Science, International Quarterly for Asia Studies, Asian Perspective, Asian Politics & Policy and Polar Geography. She co-edited the volume China and Nordic Diplomacy (Routledge, 2018) and contributed chapters on Japan to the volume Kinship in International Relations (Routledge, 2018) and The Routledge Handbook of Arctic Security (Routledge, 2020).