POL 384
PE Japan
Security
What is security policy?
Coordinated set of Foreign Policies and military policies designed to increase the physical and ideological security of the nation
Military attack
National way of life
Particular ruling group
Grand strategy – what is strategy?
Does Japan have the resources for a great power grand strategy?
Security policy divides people because
Acceptance of use of military force
Which way of life to defend
Definition of threat
Ideology
Japan and national security policy
Divisions between:
Asianists/Nationalists/Mercantilists
Liberals/Internationalists/Free Trade
Periods of security policy
Meiji Consensus – fukoku kyohei
Democratic interlude of 1919-1930
Greater East Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere
Post 1945 - Karaoke diplomacy: 1955 consensus/ Yoshida Shigeru/ LDP
Junichiro Koizumi – new path for strategy?
Three major strategic shifts in Asia
End of Soviet Union in 1991 – rapid decline of major threat to Japan of a modern military force
Rise of China
Decline of the US
Japan takes limited and incremental steps toward an independent foreign policy.
1996-1999 – Japan expands defense role with US from homeland to area surrounding Japan
Military buildup $45 billion defense budget
Collective self defense
Offensive military forces
US pressure - Join coalition of the willing to defeat terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq
NEA today
Rising insecurity from
North Korean fears and nuclear weapons plus missiles
Russian weakness
China’s fear of containment
Japanese uncertainties about the US
Rapidly shifting power relations
World power resources
GDP (PPP) % world total
2008 (CIA)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2001rank.html
US EU China Japan Russia Korea
20.5 21.3 11.2 6.2 3.2 1.9
2006 Maddison data
US EU China Japan Russia Korea
19.7 18.0 16.7 5.9 2.3 1.9
1990 Maddison data
US EU China Japan Russia Korea
21.8 22.6 7.9 8.6 4.3 1.4
Contemporary Security policy discussions
1. Role of the US
Essential security partner
Unipolar bully – dangerous entangler
In decline and unreliable
2. Japan and the use of military force
Pacifists
Increase military forces and integrate with the US
Increase military forces and establish distance from the US
3. Relationship to Asia