Explaining Japanese Antimilitarism: Normative and Realist Constraints on Japan's Security Policy

Izumikawa, Yasuhiro

doi:10.1162/isec_a_00020

Cited by 41 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Koizumi finally dispatched the SDP to Iraq. This was the first time that the SDF had been dispatched to a war zone since the end of WWII (Izumikawa, 2010). (Masters, 2008).…”

Section: Power Play Of Hard-linersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The heightened threat perceptions in turn encourage the people to turn to patriotism and nationalism (Hironori, 2006;Izumikawa, 2010;Hornung, 2012). Specifically, the expansive use of military power by rising China and its assertive territorial claims, combined with North Korea's highly provocative foreign and security policies have paved the way for the rise of conservative constituencies in Japan (Hughes, 2009).…”

Section: Rise Of Conservative Japanese Constituenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Explaining Japan’s Shift to Foreign Policy Activism: Security Challenges and Perverse Political Accountability

You¹

2015

IRD

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The paper examines the root causes of Japan's rapid shift to foreign policy activism. To explain the causes, Idevelop the so-called "perverse political accountability" approach. Specifically, the approach claims that a growing security challenge from China and North Korea, and US policy favoring Japan's foreign policy activism structure.Japan's domestic political condition that the majority of Japanese people become more conservative and nationalistic. Such shift in the Japanese people's preference has been both creating and reinforcing a perverse accountability by which the leaders or parties willing to adopt hard-line foreign policies are better off electorally while the leaders or parties remaining soft-line on foreign affairs are worse off. The perverse accountability not only leads to a severe partisan imbalance between the conservative parties and the leftist parties, but also gives the most conservative party, e.g., the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), a greater chance of coming to office and of pursuing assertive foreign policy they favor. Thus, the perverse accountability is at the center of current Japan's turn to foreign policy activism. This finding contributes to an enhanced understanding for Japan's shift to assertive foreign policy.Keywords: Japan, foreign policy activism, China, North Korea, the US, perverse political accountability PuzzleThe world has wondered why Japan is moving so rapidly into foreign policy activism. Japan, whose foreign policy was quite peaceful and generous in development aid, disaster relief and peacekeeping, has grown increasingly hawkish in recent decades. Japan's foreign policy leaders, regardless of their partisan differences, have not hesitated to show their growing commitments to a series of assertive foreign policies, such as proactively responding to growing threats from China in the East and South China Sea, preventing North Korea's missile threats, exercising the right of collective self-defense, making it easier for the Diet to propose revisions to the war-renouncing Article 9 of the Constitution, increasing a more proactive role for the Self-Defense Force (SDF) overseas, and downplaying its World-War II (WWII) era crimes.

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“…Koizumi finally dispatched the SDP to Iraq. This was the first time that the SDF had been dispatched to a war zone since the end of WWII (Izumikawa, 2010). (Masters, 2008).…”

Section: Power Play Of Hard-linersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Rise Of Conservative Japanese Constituenciesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Explaining Japan’s Shift to Foreign Policy Activism: Security Challenges and Perverse Political Accountability

You¹

2015

IRD

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“…The debate hinges on the implications of the security umbrella provided by the United States -and the peculiar form and understanding of "pacifism" that results. See Bamba and Howes (1978) and Izumikawa (2010).…”

Section: The Genesis Of Techno-nationalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ideology, Society, and the Origins of Nuclear Power in Japan

Kelly

2015

East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Jo

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In light of events at the Daiichi nuclear plant this paper discusses the origins of nuclear power in Japan. These origins lie in a confluence of forces: strategic, economic and cultural. Drawing inspiration from the work of Antonio Gramsci, the paper considers the operation of these forces through an historical lens, with an emphasis on Japan's transition from feudalism to capitalism; the emergence of imperialism and ultra-nationalism; the post-surrender occupation of Japan by the United States; and the post-Occupation debate over nuclear power. Gramscian analysis highlights the key role of both the state and civil society in the promotion of science and technology as a tool of economic growth and as a symbol of national autonomy. The article suggests that -despite the Fukushima tragedy -Japan will continue to develop its nuclear industry for many years to come. This is the case not only because of ongoing strategic concerns and the power of the 'nuclear village', but also because the ideology of techno-nationalism is deeply ingrained within and throughout Japanese society.The radiation leak suffered by Japan on 11 March 2011 will have long-term repercussions, both domestically and globally. A number of governments -most prominently the Federal Republic of Germany -were quick to announce reviews of their nuclear programmes as a consequence of the radiation leak at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, and the decision taken by the Japanese government to scale back its plans for nuclear expansion will have important demonstration effects elsewhere.

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“…However, there are potential problems with the US−Japan security treaty as well. Active US military practices against neighboring countries such as China and North Korea could potentially entangle Japan in a war, and for this reason the Japanese would prefer to minimize military dependence on the US (Izumikawa, 2010). Foreign cooperation reduces the demand for US assistance and discourages the Japanese public from supporting Japan's security policy.…”

Section: Rational Demand For National Defensementioning

confidence: 99%

National Security Environments, Patriotism, and Japanese Public Opinion

Kagotani

2015

Japanese Journal of Political Science

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This study examines Japanese reactions to neighboring countries' behavior by addressing possible micro-motives, such as patriotism, the rational demand for national defense, and retrospective policy evaluation. This theoretical development leads to distinctive hypotheses from different motivations and directly tests them using macrodata (not survey data). This research will apply this framework to Japanese politics and will show that foreign threats stimulate patriotism in the public mind and enhance political support for national leaders. It will also demonstrate that the Japanese public has no optimistic view of the new prime minister and that the honeymoon effect in previous research may be confounded with the patriotic effect because the new leader is less experienced and is often challenged by foreign countries.

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Explaining Japanese Antimilitarism: Normative and Realist Constraints on Japan's Security Policy

Cited by 41 publications

References 17 publications

Explaining Japan’s Shift to Foreign Policy Activism: Security Challenges and Perverse Political Accountability

Explaining Japan’s Shift to Foreign Policy Activism: Security Challenges and Perverse Political Accountability

Ideology, Society, and the Origins of Nuclear Power in Japan

National Security Environments, Patriotism, and Japanese Public Opinion

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