The Debate | Politics | East Asia

The GPM and Japan’s First Step into Party Diplomacy

When politics falls behind the economy.

The Global Progressive Mobilisation (GPM), convened in Barcelona on April 17 and 18, 2026 by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, brought together progressive and centrist political leaders from across the world. More than a conference, it functioned as a central hub for global political networks, with over 100 speakers engaged in discussions on the future of international politics.

At its core, the GPM represents an effort to defend and renew the foundational principles of the postwar international order – democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and free trade – through cooperation among progressive and centrist forces across national and party lines. At a time when these principles are increasingly challenged by nationalism and exclusionary politics, the GPM stands as a concrete manifestation of an emerging international political movement that seeks to sustain them through coordination rather than confrontation.

Among the participants was Junya Ogawa, President of Japan’s Centrist Reform Alliance, whose presence provides an important perspective on both the structural challenges facing contemporary politics and the evolving role of party diplomacy in Japan.

From Observation to Participation

Ogawa’s participation marked a turning point in how Japanese opposition actors engage internationally. In postwar Japan, diplomacy has largely been the domain of the government, with opposition parties playing only a limited role in global political engagement.

In this context, the GPM provided an opportunity not merely to observe international developments, but to participate directly within a multilateral political network. During his visit, Ogawa held more than 30 bilateral meetings with political leaders from Europe, North America, and beyond, engaging at levels typically associated with state diplomacy.

This shift – from engaging with international politics from the outside to participating within its networks – signals the emergence of party diplomacy as a complementary channel to traditional state-based diplomacy in Japan.

One of the most significant outcomes of the GPM was not a collective declaration, but the process through which Ogawa raised key questions and deepened his understanding through direct dialogue with over 30 political leaders.

Throughout these exchanges, Ogawa consistently emphasized a structural challenge: the gap between a strong global economy and weak international politics. While capital and information move freely across borders, political decision-making and redistributive functions remain confined within sovereign states rooted in the Westphalian system.

Through dialogue, it became evident that many countries are grappling with similar challenges: widening inequality, the weakening of the middle class, and the resulting political instability. These conversations revealed a degree of resonance with Ogawa’s perspective, highlighting the shared nature of these concerns.

This process helped clarify that contemporary political instability should not be understood merely as ideological confrontation, but as a structural issue: the inability of political institutions to adequately respond to the realities of globalization.

While the GPM emphasizes the defense of democratic values and coordination among progressive forces, Ogawa’s involvement contributed to deepening the discussion by drawing attention to these underlying structural dynamics.

Within these dialogues, the importance of redistribution was widely........

© The Diplomat