Normalizing Japan: Politics, Identity, and the Evolution of Security Practice (Studies in Asian Security) - Hardcover

Oros, Andrew L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 080470029X ISBN 13: 9780804700290

Verlag: Stanford University Press, 2008

Inhaltsangabe

Normalizing Japan seeks to answer the question of what future direction Japan's military policies are likely to take, by considering how policy has evolved since World War II, and what factors shaped this evolution. It argues that Japanese security policy has not changed as much in recent years as many believe, and that future change also will be highly constrained by Japan's long-standing "security identity," the central principle guiding Japanese policy over the past half-century. Oros' analysis is based on detailed exploration of three cases of policy evolution-restrictions on arms exports, the military use of outer space, and cooperation with the United States on missile defense-which shed light on other cases of policy change, such as Japan's deployment of its military to Iraq and elsewhere and its recent creation of a Ministry of Defense. More broadly, the book refines how "ideational" factors interact with domestic politics and international changes to create policy change.

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Über die Autorinnen und Autoren

Andrew Oros is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Washington College. He is the Editor, with Yuki Tatsumi, of Japan's New Defense Establishment: Institutions, Capabilities, and Implications (Stimson Center, 2007).

Andrew Oros is an Associate Professor of Political Science and International Studies at Washington College. He is the Editor, with Yuki Tatsumi, of Japan's New Defense Establishment: Institutions, Capabilities, and Implications (Stimson Center, 2007).

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Normalizing Japan

POLITICS, IDENTITY, AND THE EVOLUTION OF SECURITY PRACTICEBy Andrew L. Oros

Stanford University Press

Copyright © 2008 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-8047-0029-0

Contents

Preface...................................................................................................................................xiAcronyms..................................................................................................................................xvIntroduction..............................................................................................................................11 Security Identity and the Evolution of Security Practice: Explaining Policy Change......................................................232 Negotiating and Institutionalizing a New Postwar Security Identity......................................................................413 Reaffirming Core Principles in a "Lost Decade," 1989–1998.........................................................................714 Limiting Conflict Through Arms Export Restrictions......................................................................................905 The Next Frontier: Keeping Outer Space "Peaceful".......................................................................................1226 Missile Defense, Alliance Politics, and Security Identity...............................................................................1497 Japan's Security Identity and Security Practice in a New Century........................................................................1701. Postwar Japanese Prime Ministers.......................................................................................................2012. Postwar Japanese Election Dates for Both Houses (1946–2007)......................................................................2023. Postwar Japanese Election Returns for the House of Representatives (1945–1955)...................................................2034. Postwar Japanese Election Returns for the House of Representatives (1955–1993)...................................................2045. Major Japanese Government Policy Statements Regarding Arms Exports.....................................................................2056. Major Japanese Government Policy Statements Regarding the Peaceful Use of Outer Space..................................................2087. Major Japanese Government Policy Statements Regarding Ballistic Missile Defense Cooperation with the United States.....................201Notes.....................................................................................................................................213Bibliography..............................................................................................................................240Index.....................................................................................................................................269

Chapter One

Security Identity and the Evolution of Security Practice Explaining Policy Change

Explaining policy change has been a core task for policy makers and scholars alike, but a particular problem for advocates of structural theories such as those based on "culture" or "polarity" of a system. The then-dominant structural realist theories of international relations widely failed at anticipating the end of the Cold War, for example, and culturally deterministic wartime explanations for Japan's military aggression were hard-pressed to explain Japan's policy turn after defeat in the Second World War. Today, when change in states' foreign policies is broadly apparent, renewed attention to this question is necessary. Recent changes in Japanese security practices have alarmed many observers and called into question past explanations for Japanese security practice. In particular, there is widespread concern that Japan is on the verge of disengaging the "brakes" (hadome, in Japanese) that limited Japanese military activity in the past half century. What often is overlooked in contemporary discourse, however, are the many cases throughout the postwar period when Japanese security policy changed in response to shifting political inputs and changes in its international environment. Further consideration of such cases offers insight into the ways in which policy change in Japan today conforms to past practice and the extent to which it suggests a new direction. Before examining the specifics of policy change in Japan, however, it is useful to consider the broader question of how policy change has generally been conceptualized.

This chapter lays out, first, three factors that contribute to general policy change. It then seeks to develop how security identity can contribute to understanding this process. Next, this general discussion is brought back to the specific case of Japan, suggesting how broader theories of policy change can illuminate existing scholarship on policy change in Japan. Finally, a theory of policy change based on the conception of a security identity is offered and contrasted with other prominent and contending explanations for Japanese security practice.

Explaining Policy Change

Three factors—individually or in combination—explain policy shift and therefore must be considered in conjunction with an explanation rooted in security identity. Each of these factors contributes to a general explanation for Japanese security policy evolution over time (see Table 2). First, ideas about the appropriate course of action may change, leading to policy change. For example, changing notions of race may lead to new policies regarding racial segregation. In the security realm, new ideas about the utility of particular strategies or military technologies may lead to policy change. In the most extreme cases, wholesale change in ideas about security may explain dramatic policy shift, such as when comparing the cases of prewar and postwar Japan. Chapter 2 of this volume demonstrates how such a shift occurred in early postwar Japan, while Chapter 3 shows the opposite—stability despite a changed domestic and international environment. Jeffrey Legro (2005) offers one conceptualization of why such ideas change, which is applied to the case of Japan below.

Second, the distribution of power within a political system may shift, resulting in policy change. In democracies, this most often happens with a change to the party in power, but it also may take place even under a single party's rule due to changes in support levels among different groups within a single party or coalition. In the case of Japan, the ascendancy or decline of particular factions within the long-ruling LDP can explain some degree of policy shift, as could the periods where the LDP majority was fundamentally challenged. This factor often is related to the first factor in that change in support for a particular party or group may be based on changes in ideas held by supporters: voters may vote a party or a candidate in or out based on ideas they advocate. In later chapters of this volume, policy evolution due to shifting political support is widely evident.

Third, the context or environment in which a policy is made may change, resulting in policy change. In the realm of security policy, a change in threat, threat perception, or system stability may lead to a policy response, even if there is no change in the previous two...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Stanford University Press
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2008
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 080470029X
• ISBN 13: 9780804700290
• Einband: Gebundene Ausgabe
• Anzahl der Seiten: 304
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Mare Nostrum Group B.V.; gpsr@mare-nostrum.co.uk; ; Doelen 72; Breda; 4831 GR; Niederlande