每一個民族在歷史的過程中發展出自身的文化，同時也發展出不同特色的政治文化。對一個國家來說，政治文化是一種既無形又深遠的遺產。不論是有關外交對象的認識，還是對外政策的制定過程，政治文化始終是在幕後有著不可忽視的作用。 二戰後的日本在外交戰略上是以「輕軍事、重經濟」，對美依附的主軸而進行；到了90年代以後的日本外交，因波斯灣戰爭的緣故，在結構上產生了十分重大的變化。這個構造的變化，則是源自80年代後期「日本於國際社會之作用」的呼聲而明確地開始展露，接著並於2003年伊拉克戰爭而劃分開來。伊拉克戰爭發生的時期，日本正是由小泉政府執政的時期，故筆者認為要從小泉政府時期著眼，並結合日本過去的外交戰略作為背景，才能有一套完整的認識。 本研究以政治文化作為研究途徑，從政治文化的角度來觀察日本外交戰略，並特著眼於小泉政府時期，務求一個對日本外交戰略的新觀點。而研究結果發現，日本從二戰以後開始依附美國，小泉政府時期強調外交上的「自主性」，是為日本政治文化上「依附強權與回歸自主」的一大特色。 Every culture is developed by his nation in history, and political culture does, too. For a country, political culture is a kind of legacy that is intangible and endless. No matter what knowing about foreign subject or making foreign policy, political culture always affect on it. After World War II, the foreign strategy of Japan is attached to America in the beginning. But in 1990s, a structure of the foreign strategy is becoming a great change. And the showing up of change is due to the Gulf War and origin from the asking about the Japan’s work in international society in the end of 1980s. After that, there is a new coming by Iraq War in 2003 and Koizumi government period in Japan. If so, we have to focus on Koizumi government period and combine the past foreign strategy of Japan as background. Then we can have a whole view. For a new viewpoint, the political culture approach is used in this thesis to observe the foreign strategy of Japan and especially focus on Koizumi government period. According to the research result, attaching to America after World War II and emphasizing the self-doing in diplomacy in Koizumi government period have to notice as a character in the political culture of Japan.
