Japan's Defense Policy and Bureaucratic Politics, 1976-2007

Japan's Defense Policy and Bureaucratic Politics, 1976-2007 PDF Author: Takao Sebata
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 0761850821
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 437

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Book Description
It is a well known fact that Japan spends only a small percentage of her gross national product on defense. What is not well known, however, is the fact that Japan's defense budget ranks among the top in the world and that her self-defense forces are considered to be amongst the best conventional armed forces in the world. Since empirical studies concerning Japan's military expansion are rare both in Japanese and English, the book takes up this neglected area. It examines Japan's military expansion and the decision-making of her defense policy between 1976 and 2007, focusing on the National Defense Program outline and the guidelines for United States-Japan Defense Cooperation. This book deals with how the bureaucratic politics model applies to the case of Japan's defense policy and demonstrates some similarities and differences between Japanese and United States decision-making.

Japan's Defense Policy and Bureaucratic Politics, 1976-2007

Japan's Defense Policy and Bureaucratic Politics, 1976-2007 PDF Author: Takao Sebata
Publisher: University Press of America
ISBN: 0761850821
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 437

Get Book Here

Book Description
It is a well known fact that Japan spends only a small percentage of her gross national product on defense. What is not well known, however, is the fact that Japan's defense budget ranks among the top in the world and that her self-defense forces are considered to be amongst the best conventional armed forces in the world. Since empirical studies concerning Japan's military expansion are rare both in Japanese and English, the book takes up this neglected area. It examines Japan's military expansion and the decision-making of her defense policy between 1976 and 2007, focusing on the National Defense Program outline and the guidelines for United States-Japan Defense Cooperation. This book deals with how the bureaucratic politics model applies to the case of Japan's defense policy and demonstrates some similarities and differences between Japanese and United States decision-making.

The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force

The Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force PDF Author: Robert D. Eldridge
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137551941
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 421

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Book Description
Based on extensive Japanese-language materials, this book is the first to examine the development of Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force. It addresses: how the GSDF was able to emerge as the post-war successor of the Imperial Japanese Army despite Japan’s anti-militarist constitution; how the GSDF, despite the public skepticism and even hostility that greeted its creation, built domestic and international legitimacy; and how the GSDF has responded to changes in international and domestic environments. This path-breaking study of the world’s third-largest-economic power’s ground army is timely for two reasons. First, the resurgence of tensions in Northeast Asia over territorial disputes, and the emphasis recent Japanese governments have placed on using the GSDF for defending Japan’s outlying islands is driving media coverage and specialist interest in the GSDF. Second, the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami has focused global attention on the GSDF as Japan’s lead disaster relief organization. This highly informative and thoroughly researched book provides insight for policy makers and academics interested in Japanese foreign and defense policies.

The State and Politics In Japan

The State and Politics In Japan PDF Author: Ian Neary
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1509535853
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 298

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Book Description
Politics in Japan is undergoing a major transformation. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Abe Shinzo, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has, since 2012, embarked upon an ambitious programme of policy reforms as well as changes to Japan’s governing structures and processes. At the heart of this policy agenda is ‘Abenomics’ – a set of measures designed to boost Japan’s flagging economy, but one which is yet to deliver on its promises. In this fully revised and updated second edition of his classic text, Ian Neary explores the dynamics of democracy in Japan, introducing the key institutions, developments and actors in its politics from the end of the Second World War to the present day. Packed with illustrative material and examples, this comprehensive study traces the continuities and the changes that are underway in five major policy areas: foreign and defence, industry, social welfare, the environment and human rights. Assuming no prior knowledge of Japan, this textbook will be an invaluable and welcome resource for all students interested in the government and politics of contemporary Japan and its international profile.

New Directions in Japan’s Security

New Directions in Japan’s Security PDF Author: Paul Midford
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000174174
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
While the US-Japan alliance has strengthened since the end of the Cold War, Japan has, almost unnoticed, been building security ties with other partners, in the process reducing the centrality of the US in Japan’s security. This book explains why this is happening. Japan pursued security isolationism during the Cold War, but the US was the exception. Japan hosted US bases and held joint military exercises even while shunning contacts with other militaries. Japan also made an exception to its weapons export ban to allow exports to the US. Yet, since the end of the Cold War, Japan’s security has undergone a quiet transformation, moving away from a singular focus on the US as its sole security partner. Tokyo has begun diversifying its security ties. This book traces and explains this diversification. The country has initiated security dialogues with Asian neighbors, assumed a leadership role in promoting regional multilateral security cooperation, and begun building bilateral security ties with a range of partners, from Australia and India to the European Union. Japan has even lifted its ban on weapons exports and co-development with non-US partners. This edited volume explores this trend of decreasing US centrality alongside the continued, and perhaps even growing, security (inter) dependence with the US. New Directions in Japan’s Security is an essential resource for scholars focused on Japan’s national security. It will also interest on a wider basis those wishing to understand why Japan is developing non-American directions in its security strategy.

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015

Creating Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015 PDF Author: David Hunter-Chester
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 1498537901
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 315

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Book Description
Creating Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force, 1945–2015 is a timely contribution to postwar Japan security studies. It is the first comprehensive account of Japan’s post-1945 army, including a comprehensive institutional history, together with the evolution of roles and missions and the adoption of successive professional identities. The organizational history is embedded within a thorough examination of Japan’s own defense policy, as well as of America’s policy of alliance with Japan. The book examines and challenges assumptions about the drafting and adoption of the War Renunciation clause of Japan’s postwar Peace Constitution, Article 9, which uniquely not only renounces war, but the arms to wage war. Thus Japan’s army is not called an army, but the Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF). The work also examines the place of an army and soldiers in the formation of Japan’s national identity after its last devastating war, and explores the impact of constitutional, legal and policy restrictions, as well as the power of the legacy of the still-largely vilified Imperial Japanese Army on GSDF members who seek to serve because “there are people we want to protect.” The study is rounded by an examination of the place of soldiers in Japan’s popular culture, focused on movies, manga and anime, assessing the impact on the GSDF of a public imagination that most often ignores or villainizes soldiers, though ending with a note that some positive images of soldiers and of the GSDF members themselves have started to appear in the last few years. The book’s author, a retired U.S. Army soldier who spent more than twenty years working, studying and training with the GSDF, offers a broad-ranging exploration of a unique organization. This work is extensively researched, using English and Japanese sources, and will appeal to anyone interested in Japanese security studies, alliance studies, and military imagery in Japanese pop culture, as well as to students of military history, international security, international relations, and cultural identity.

Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan

Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan PDF Author: William D. Hoover
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 153811156X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 653

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Book Description
Japan is a mix of the old and the new, traditional and modern, and old fashion and innovative. It has traveled the road to a modern destination without totally losing sight of its traditions and values. Although some in Japan lament the passing of old ways, Japan has held on to a reasonable amount of its traditions and values. This is easier to find in its arts and crafts and its literature and films as well as in its social habits. This book will introduce the broad sweep of people, events, and trends, including the successes and failures, of postwar Japan. This second edition of Historical Dictionary of Postwar Japan contains a chronology, an introduction, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent resource for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about Japan.

Overcoming Isolationism

Overcoming Isolationism PDF Author: Paul Midford
Publisher: Stanford University Press
ISBN: 1503613097
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 395

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Book Description
This book asks why, in the wake of the Cold War, Japan suddenly reversed years of steadfast opposition to security cooperation with its neighbors. Long isolated and opposed to multilateral agreements, Japan proposed East Asia's first multilateral security forum in the early 1990s, emerging as a regional leader. Overcoming Isolationism explores what led to this surprising about-face and offers a corrective to the misperception that Japan's security strategy is reactive to US pressure and unresponsive to its neighbors. Paul Midford draws on newly released official documents and extensive interviews to reveal a quarter century of Japanese leadership in promoting regional security cooperation. He demonstrates that Japan has a much more nuanced relationship with its neighbors and has played a more significant leadership role in shaping East Asian security than has previously been recognized.

Challenges of Governance

Challenges of Governance PDF Author: Ronald L. Holzhacker
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030590542
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
This book presents a varied and multi-dimensional view of challenges of governance in Southeast Asia and ASEAN through the variety of disciplines and nationalities involved. In light of 50 years of regional collaboration and integration as the member states of ASEAN seek to chart out a future path for the region, this book is dedicated to showcasing different challenges to governance that occur due to internal and external pressures for the various member states. The editors are particularly interested in the multi-level governance challenges on issues of democracy, equity, and sustainability, the adaptation of policies and norms to fit an ASEAN way, and the changing roles of civil society and citizens in this process of seeking a common identity and voice. The book is divided into four sections. The first section introduces the fundamental political institutional dynamics that are in play within the region and the interplay between regional forces and national norms. The second section tackles the economic and legal discourses that various member states face in relation to external and internal pressures related to international and regional trade and industry. The third section focuses on issues of sustainability and equity resulting from the vast socio-spatial differences in the varied cities and regions of member states. In the final section, the authors discuss dilemmas resulting from economic growth in exploitative industries and the impact that has on the local and regional community through the lenses of inclusivity and justice. Written by a diverse collection of policy makers, researchers, educators and activists from the regions discussed, this book provides an authoritative first-hand analysis of key challenges to governance in Southeast Asia and ASEAN. As such, this volume is an excellent resource for academics, advanced masters and PhD candidates interested in the region, and major Southeast Asian research institutes and centers as well as policy makers and influencers at both national and regional levels within the region.

Hegemony and the US‒Japan Alliance

Hegemony and the US‒Japan Alliance PDF Author: Misato Matsuoka
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351399144
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
It is widely recognised that the increasing importance of the US‒Japan alliance is strongly linked to emerging threats in the Asia Pacific, with China’s rise and the ambitions of North Korea having brought the two allies closer together. This book, however, seeks to question whether these factors are indeed the sole determinants of this enduring alliance. A pioneering study conducted through the lens of neo-Gramscianism, this book unravels the intricate political dynamism involved in the US‒Japan alliance. It provides an innovative attempt to link the concept of alliances to hegemony and thus examines Japan’s relationship to US dominance in the region. Building on existing scholarship, it also seeks to examine how Japan’s continuing dependence on the US, and the burden it places of citizens living near US military bases, may affect the durability of the alliance in the post-Cold War era. As such, this book presents an alternative theoretical tool in the field of international relations to analyse the political nature of the alliance, as well as US hegemony in the region. This book will be useful to students and scholars of Japanese Politics and foreign policymaking, as well as International Relations and Security Studies more generally.

Japan’s Threat Perception during the Cold War

Japan’s Threat Perception during the Cold War PDF Author: Eitan Oren
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000836126
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
Oren re-examines Japan’s threat perception during the first two decades of the Cold War, using a wide range of source materials, including many unavailable in English, or only recently declassified. There is a widely shared misconception that during the Cold War the Japanese were largely shielded from threats due to the American military protection, the regional balance of power, Japan’s geographical insularity, and domestic aversion to militarism. Oren dispels this, showing how security threats pervaded Japanese strategic thinking in this period. By dispelling this misconception, Oren enables us to more accurately gauge the degree to which Japan’s threat perception has evolved during and after the end of the Cold War and to enhance our understanding of Tokyo’s strategic calculus in the current situation of rivalry between China and the United States. This book will be of great value to both scholars of Japanese history and contemporary international relations.