Event Report: The Changing Landscape of Global Health Governance and Japan’s Contributions
On November 17th from 7:00pm-8:30pm (EST)/November 18th 9:00am-10:30am (JST), an esteemed panel of experts came together in an event to examine the changing landscape of global health governance and Japan’s contributions. Panelists assessed the historical evolution of health cooperation and its relationship to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This event was co-sponsored by the Consulate General of Japan in Toronto and moderated by Professor Phillip Lipscy, Director of the Centre for the Study of Global Japan.
Opening remarks were delivered by Sasayama Takuya, the Consul-General of Japan in Toronto, who started the conversation by reflecting on the last several months of the COVID-19 pandemic and the international effort to develop effective vaccines. Consul-General Sasayama posed several pertinent points that were revisited later in the panel discussion, such as the future of the World Health Organization (WHO), and concluded by emphasizing Japan’s willingness and potential to play a constructive role in the arena of global health governance.
The first panelist was Professor Takuma Kayo from the Faculty of Law and Politics, Tokyo Metropolitan University. Professor Takuma started the discussion by outlining her understanding of global health governance, noting that “Historically, health has not been a major theme of global governance research.” Takuma drew on her research, arguing that increasing interest in health governance is closely related to international security concerns. She went on to explain how deficiencies of the global health system can be partly attributed to state and non-state actors that hold divergent interests, which makes effective cooperation difficult. Takuma pointed to the politicization of health and the decline of multilateralism as additional reasons why global collaboration has suffered, and why “Middle Powers” such as Canada and Japan are likely to see their roles in coordinating health governance and diplomacy as increasingly integral.
The next panelist was Professor Tana Johnson from the department of Political Affairs & Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Johnson started off by describing the COVID-19 pandemic as an “extraordinary crisis with ordinary patterns,” suggesting that we can understand the global response similarly to ways we comprehend other political issues that transcend physical borders. As an example, Johnson brought up the tendency of state actors to blame international organizations for ineffective leadership, which was seen as countries criticized the WHO for its handling of the pandemic. Johnson also commented on the divided reaction to medical experts both within and across countries, which contributed mistrust. She went on to locate an opportunity for Japan to increase its influence in this realm by stepping up alongside other countries to create frameworks that address the performance of international organizations, whether this is achieved through increased financial investment in the WHO or through auditing proposed global health programs.
The third panelist was Yves Tiberghien, the Director for the Center for Japanese Research at the University of British Columbia. Tiberghien’s presentation was focused on the different strategies Asia-Pacific states undertook during the COVID-19 pandemic and the politics behind these choices. Tiberghien’s leading question revolved around why countries in the Asia-Pacific region fared better off in the early stages of the pandemic and how regional cooperation increased despite a global trend toward unilateralism. Two reasons were offered to explain these divergent outcomes: the institutional capacity and social resilience of countries in the region. By relying on pre-existing informal frameworks, in which Japan was a key player, Tiberghien stated that cooperation between countries remained strong despite the relative decline of global health multilateralism. By continuing to foster both informal and formal relations with other countries and international organizations, Japan faces an opportunity to increase its influence in global health governance.
Following the panel discussion, there was a lively question and answer period with audience members from around the globe. The panelists answered questions about the political instability of Japan and how it would relate to notions of increased global governance; the fragmentation of organizations such as the WHO; and potential reforms & lessons the world can learn from the COVID-19 pandemic.
We would like to thank the panel for sharing their research and insights, as well as the virtual audience that was in attendance for an engaged Q&A session.
