This paper aims to explain the alliance dilemma between the United States and Japan and its impact on the reconceptualization of Japanese pacifism. It implies a decline in one-country pacifism intensity and increasingly flexible reinterpretations of Article 9. Through this research, it turns out that Japan’s lower position of bargaining leverage than the U.S. and the risk of entrapment in alliance dilemma between the U.S. and Japan affect the reconceptualization of pacifism in Japan. The conclusion draws on the findings through the theoretical framework of Glenn Snyder’s Alliance Dilemma, with James D. Morrow’s concept of Autonomy and Security. The term ‘alliance dilemma’ refers to two possible choices states could pick to avoid certain risks in the alliance: “C” strategy (to cooperate) or “D” strategy (to defect). The analysis reveals that Japan is more inclined to choose “C” strategy since it is very dependent on the U.S. As the bad prospective in “C” strategy eventually comes into effect, Japan’s lower position of bargaining leverage than the U.S. and the risk of entrapment it bears become the reasons of reconceptualization of its pacifism.

In the second period of President Joko Widodo's government, Indonesia strengthened its cooperative relations with the United States and China through various agreements in the economy and other global issues. Indonesia's decision is influenced by many factors, both internal and external. According to Michael Brecher, in the process of foreign policy formulation, the mass media have a rol to convey and advocate for the general public regarding the government's stance towards certain issues. Through this research, the research team wanted to find out whether the mass media in Indonesia support Indonesia's foreign policy in responding to the rivalry between the United States and China? To answer this question, the research team used the foreign policy formulation system (Michael Brecher) and the framing analysis (Robert N. Entman). The study was carried out on 15 selected news stories from Kompas, The Jakarta Post, and Tempo. Based on the research conducted, the research team concludes that the news conveyed by the mass media in Indonesia shows their support for Indonesia's foreign policy, especially its neutral stance in the rivalry between the United States and China.

This paper aims to explain the advent of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war. It is an important question to answer due to the historical, cultural, and economic relations between the two states, as well as Russia’s aspiration as a benign hegemon should have prevented the war from happening. The fact that two closely related ex-Soviet states went to war against each other points to a fundamental problem in their relationship that could happen to other states with similar preconditions, such as Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Moldova, and more. In order to address this issue, Wendtian Constructivism is used to analyse the social interaction, key events, and the culture of anarchy that led to open warfare. This paper mainly relies on official documents and previous research as the primary sources, using news and media coverage to validate truths and opinions on key events. Based on that, this paper finds that: 1) social interaction between the two states was consistent with the Hobbesian culture of anarchy; 2) Russia’s aspiration as a benign hegemon failed to reproduce itself due to rejection from Georgia and their success in balancing Russia with the U.S., giving Georgia the capabilities to resist Russian narratives; 3) Georgia’s confrontative behaviours led to reciprocal actions from Russia, and; 4) the Georgian offensive on Tskhinvali was the trigger that confirmed the suspicions from both sides, making both countries decision to be based on the logic of enmity.

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