Japanese prime minister Takaichi Sanae secured a historic landslide victory in the February 8, 2026 lower house election. What are the implications of this victory for Japanese domestic politics and foreign policymaking? To answer this question, revisiting the Abe government of 2012–2020 is informative. Abe was Takaichi’s mentor and ideological ally, and he won similar landslides while becoming the longest serving prime minister in Japanese history. Relative to Abe, Takaichi is in a stronger position to exercise initiative in specific areas, such as constitutional revision, economic security policy, and deeper international partnerships with several countries. However, Japan also faces serious and intensifying challenges across domains, which constrain Takaichi’s ability to replicate Abe’s economic reforms and initiatives to defend the liberal international order.
Phillip Y. Lipscy (Tue,) studied this question.