Japan is on the cusp of another leadership transition, and while politicians campaign for the Lower House election on December 16, larger questions about Japan's future permeate the global media. The tone outside of Japan is pessimistic, and many are dismissive of this nation's future prospects. Should we reconcile ourselves to Japan's inevitable decline, or are there other ways of considering Japan's current challenges? Sheila A. Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies, has initiated a broad conversation on CFR's Asia Unbound blog in which leading experts analyze Japan's economy, politics, and society and give their assessment of Japan's future.

Experts:

Is Japan in Decline?: A Conversation

By Sheila A. Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies, Council on Foreign Relations

The Declinist Debate is a Diversion

By Gerald L. Curtis, Burgess professor of political science, Columbia University; director, Toyota Research Program, Weatherhead East Asian Institute; senior research fellow, Tokyo Foundation

Japan, the Never Normal

By Jennifer Lind, associate professor of government, Dartmouth College; faculty associate, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University

Solving the Japanese Paradox

By Kathryn Ibata-Arens, associate professor of political science, DePaul University

Two Improbable Locales for Japanese Optimism

By Matthew Marr, assistant professor of sociology, Florida International University

Japan Leading the West?

By Robert Madsen, senior fellow, Center for International Studies at Massachusetts Institute of Technology; member, executive council, Unison Capital

Japan's Untold Potential

By Yasuchika Hasegawa, chairman, Japan Association of Corporate Executives (Keizai Doyukai); president and chief executive officer, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, Ltd.

Japan, Beyond Tomorrow

By David P. Janes, director of foundation grants and assistant to the president, United States–Japan Foundation

Undervaluing Ourselves

By Akio Takahara, professor of contemporary Chinese politics, Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Tokyo

The Answer Is in English

By Hiroshi Mikitani, chairman and chief executive officer, Rakuten, Inc.

Rural Japan

By Alexandra Harney, International Affairs Fellow, Council on Foreign Relations, affiliated with the Research Institute of Economy, Trade, and Industry in Tokyo

What Is Japan's Clout?

By David Boling, deputy executive director, Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation

Japan's Twenty Somethings Speak Out

By Miyuki Naiki, Sophia University, and Go Katayama, New York University

The Conversation on Japan's Decline Concludes

By Sheila A. Smith, senior fellow for Japan studies, Council on Foreign Relations

Abe's Challenge

By Keiko Iizuka, senior political writer, Yomiuri Shimbun

Leveraging Japan's "Old Economy"

By Glenn Hoetker, dean's council distinguished scholar and associate professor of management, W.P. Carey School of Business; affiliate professor, Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law; senior sustainability scholar, Arizona State University

Japan, a Consequential Power

By Jeffrey W. Hornung, associate professor, Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies; adjunct fellow, Office of the Japan Chair, Center for Strategic and International Studies

Japan's Soul Searching

By Toshihiro Nakayama, professor, Aoyama Gakuin University; adjunct fellow, Japan Institute of International Affairs

Global health governance in the 21st century has been characterized by the rise of new actors, new problems, and new processes. While a lot of attention has been given to the negotiation of rules and norms to address health challenges at the global level, we still do not know much about how international health norms and rules are set at the regional level.This roundtable series will focuses on how global health rules, norms, and standards are established and how they should be developed in the future.

This roundtable series is sponsored by the International Institutions and Global Governance Program and made possible by the generous support of the Robina Foundation.

The debate within Muslim-majority societies over the role of Islam in government is long-standing, but more important today than ever before. Recent developments in the Middle East and beyond have many asking how Islamist movements will shape the future of the societies in which they exist, and how the United States should respond to the complex challenges they pose in such areas as economic policy, women's and minority rights, and relations with Israel. This roundtable series, made possible through the generous support of the Smith Richardson Foundation, explores these questions and more.

The Roundtable Series on America's Governability Crisis focuses on the challenge of governing effectively during a time of sharp partisan polarization in Washington. The series seeks to examine the challenges that domestic division poses to developing and executing sound fiscal, economics, defense, and foreign policies. The series is held as part of the Renewing America initiative, which considers how policies at home will directly influence the economic and military strength of the United States and its ability to act in the world.

These working group roundtables, cosponsored by CFR and Google Ideas, are held in preparation for a major Google Ideas summit on illicit networks, that will take place in July 2012. The roundtables gather an intimate group of experts, policymakers, former participants and survivors of transnational crime to analyze the structure of illicit networks, and discuss gaps, flaws, or prospects in policies to combat violent transnational crime. The roundtable series is sponsored by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation to the Council on Foreign Relations' International Institutions and Global Governance (IIGG) program, and Google Ideas.

The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has launched an international initiative to connect leading foreign policy institutes from around the world in a common conversation on issues of global governance and multilateral cooperation. The mission of the Council of Councils is to find common ground on shared threats, build support for innovative ideas, and inject remedies into the public debate and policymaking processes of member countries.

The founding membership of the Council of Councils includes leading institutions from nineteen countries, roughly tracking the composition of the Group of Twenty (G20). The network will facilitate candid, not-for-attribution dialogue and consensus building among influential opinion leaders from established and emerging nations.

In addition to an annual conference, the Council of Councils will provide an ongoing exchange for research and policy collaboration among its members. CFR and its international partners will experiment with new technology, using state-of-the-art videoconferencing, wikis, and mobile platforms to collectively communicate and respond to breaking crises. The group will also consider long-term structural reforms that would enhance the global governance capacity of leading international institutions.

The Council of Councils initiative is funded by a generous grant from the Robina Foundation, as part of its ongoing support for CFR's International Institutions and Global Governance program.

The Nigeria Security Tracker is an effort to catalog and visualize incidents of violence in Nigeria related to political, economic, and social grievances. This regularly updated, well-organized information captured through a rigorous survey of international and Nigerian press reports is intended to help policymakers understand with better precision the frequency, location, and types of violence that have continued to undermine Nigeria's stability.

Visit the Nigeria Security Tracker.

This project addresses the need for and examines the means to achieving universal health coverage. A series of four meetings will take place, and the project will culminate in a report on the topic, in April 2012.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Every year nearly ten million children and millions of adults die and countless more suffer from preventable causes because they do not have access to the health care they need.This roundtable series addresses the need for and examines the means to achieve universal health coverage.

This roundtable series is made possible by the generous support of the Rockefeller Foundation.

This roundtable series focuses on the emerging state and non-state actors in global health and their role in a changing governance structure.

This roundtable series is sponsored by the International Institutions and Global Governance Program and made possible by the generous support of the Robina Foundation.

A collection of papers examining the internationalization of the Chinese currency, the renminbi, as written for a symposium co-sponsored by the Council on Foreign Relations and the China Development Research Foundation in November 2011.

Despite myriad challenges, entrepreneurs in conflict and post-conflict environments have succeeded in building viable businesses that stabilize families and communities and foster economic growth on a national level. While the importance of entrepreneurship has been widely discussed, little is known and has been written about what works in terms of linking entrepreneurs with markets in these environments.

This project seeks to fill that gap by investigating efforts underway in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Liberia, among others, and exploring ways to improve market linkages for entrepreneurs. It will focus on new and growing firms, as well as examine firms that have developed into large-scale enterprises. It will also analyze the unique barriers facing female entrepreneurs and suggest ways the international community can best focus its efforts to address challenges seen by entrepreneurs in conflict and post-conflict environments.

It is directed by U.S. Foreign Policy Fellow and Deputy Director of the Women and Foreign Policy program Gayle Tzemach Lemmon.

This project is made possible by the generous support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.