Download or read book Rethinking Japanese Public Opinion and Security written by Paul Midford and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-24 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rethinking Japanese Public Opinion and Security argues that Japanese public opinion matters and has acted to prevent overseas military deployments involving combat while increasingly supportive of a more normal military establishment capable of autonomously defending Japanese territory.
Download or read book Rethinking Japanese Public Opinion and Security written by Paul Midford and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2011-01-24 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book, Paul Midford engages claims that since 9/11 Japanese public opinion has turned sharply away from pacifism and toward supporting normalization of Japan's military power, in which Japanese troops would fight alongside their American counterparts in various conflicts worldwide. Midford argues that Japanese public opinion has never embraced pacifism. It has, instead, contained significant elements of realism, in that it has acknowledged the utility of military power for defending national territory and independence, but has seen offensive military power as ineffective for promoting other goals—such as suppressing terrorist networks and WMD proliferation, or promoting democracy overseas. Over several decades, these realist attitudes have become more evident as the Japanese state has gradually convinced its public that Tokyo and its military can be trusted with territorial defense, and even with noncombat humanitarian and reconstruction missions overseas. On this basis, says Midford, we should re-conceptualize Japanese public opinion as attitudinal defensive realism.
Download or read book Overcoming Isolationism written by Paul Midford and published by Stanford University Press. This book was released on 2020-07-14 with total page 378 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Rethinking Japanese Security written by Peter J. Katzenstein and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2008-03-11 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the unexpected end of the Cold War, standard arguments about power politics can no longer be adopted uncritically. This has led to a renewed interest in Japan’s unusually peaceful security policy. Japan’s championing of "comprehensive security" is central to this collection. Peter J. Katzenstein’s essays explore this concept which not only encompasses traditional military concerns but also domestic aspects of security. The book's focus on counter-terrorism and national security highlights a policy approach which, over decades, Japan has developed with political patience and diplomatic finesse. These essays advocate an eclectic approach that helps in recognizing new questions and that seek to combine elements from different analytical perspectives in the exploration of novel lines of argument. Additionally, the book features an entirely new, substantial introduction that explores and elaborates the themes of the collection while bringing it up to date. This collection will be of significant interest to students and scholars of Japanese politics, security studies and international relations.
Download or read book Rethinking Japan written by Arthur Stockwin and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-02-15 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The authors argue that with the election of the Abe Government in December 2012, Japanese politics has entered a radically new phase they describe as the “2012 Political System.” The system began with the return to power of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), after three years in opposition, but in a much stronger electoral position than previous LDP-based administrations in earlier decades. Moreover, with the decline of previously endemic intra-party factionalism, the LDP has united around an essentially nationalist agenda never absent from the party’s ranks, but in the past was generally blocked, or modified, by factions of more liberal persuasion. Opposition weakness following the severe defeat of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) administration in 2012 has also enabled the Abe Government to establish a political stability largely lacking since the 1990s. The first four chapters deal with Japanese political development since 1945 and factors leading to the emergence of Abe Shinzō as Prime Minister in 2012. Chapter 5 examines the Abe Government’s flagship economic policy, dubbed “Abenomics.” The authors then analyse four highly controversial objectives promoted by the Abe Government: revision of the 1947 ‘Peace Constitution’; the introduction of a Secrecy Law; historical revision, national identity and issues of war apology; and revised constitutional interpretation permitting collective defence. In the final three chapters they turn to foreign policy, first examining relations with China, Russia and the two Koreas, second Japan and the wider world, including public diplomacy, economic relations and overseas development aid, and finally, the vexed question of how far Japanese policies are as reactive to foreign pressure. In the Conclusion, the authors ask how far right wing trends in Japan exhibit common causality with shifts to the right in the United States, Europe and elsewhere. They argue that although in Japan immigration has been a relatively minor factor, economic stagnation, demographic decline, a sense of regional insecurity in the face of challenges from China and North Korea, and widening gaps in life chances, bear comparison with trends elsewhere. Nevertheless, they maintain that “[a] more sane regional future may be possible in East Asia.”
Download or read book Rethinking Japanese Feminisms written by Julia C. Bullock and published by University of Hawaii Press. This book was released on 2017 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rethinking Japanese Feminisms offers a broad overview of the great diversity of feminist thought and practice in Japan from the early twentieth century to the present. Drawing on methodologies and approaches from anthropology, cultural studies, gender and sexuality studies, history, literature, media studies, and sociology, each chapter presents the results of research based on some combination of original archival research, careful textual analysis, ethnographic interviews, and participant observation. The volume is organized into sections focused on activism and activists, employment and education, literature and the arts, and boundary crossing. Some chapters shed light on ideas and practices that resonate with feminist thought but find expression through the work of writers, artists, activists, and laborers who have not typically been considered feminist; others revisit specific moments in the history of Japanese feminisms in order to complicate or challenge the dominant scholarly and popular understandings of specific activists, practices, and beliefs. The chapters are contextualized by an introduction that offers historical background on feminisms in Japan, and a forward-looking conclusion that considers what it means to rethink Japanese feminism at this historical juncture. Building on more than four decades of scholarship on feminisms in Japanese and English, as well as decades more on women's history, Rethinking Japanese Feminisms offers a diverse and multivocal approach to scholarship on Japanese feminisms unmatched by existing publications. Written in language accessible to students and non-experts, it will be at home in the hands of students and scholars, as well as activists and others interested in gender, sexuality, and feminist theory and activism in Japan and in Asia more broadly.
Download or read book Reluctant Warriors written by Alexandra Sakaki and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2019-11-26 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can Germany and Japan do more militarily to uphold the international order? Since the end of World War II, Germany and Japan have been the most reluctant of all major U.S. allies to take on military responsibilities. Given their histories, this reluctance certainly is understandable. But because of their size and economic importance, Germany and Japan are the most important U.S. allies in Europe and in East Asia, respectively, and their long-term reluctance to share the defense burden has become a perennial source of frustration for Washington. The potential security roles of Germany and Japan are becoming increasingly important given the uncertainty, indeed volatility, of today’s international environment. Under President Trump, friction among allies over burden-sharing is more intense than ever before. Meanwhile, the security environments in Europe and Asia have deteriorated because of the resurgence of a belligerent Russia under Vladimir Putin, the steady rise of an increasingly assertive China, and North Korea’s worrisome acquisition of nuclear weapons. Partly in response to these developments, Germany and Japan in recent years have boosted their security efforts, mainly by increasing defense spending and taking on a somewhat broader range of military missions. Even so, because of their cultures of anti-militarism resistance remains strong in both countries to rebuilding the military and assuming more responsibility for sustaining regional or even global peace. In Reluctant Warriors, a team of noted international experts critically examines how and why Germany and Japan have modified their military postures since 1990 so far, and assesses how far the countries still have to go—and why. The contributors also highlight the risks the United States takes if it makes too simplistic a demand for the two countries to “do more.”
Download or read book The Japanese Ground Self Defense Force written by Robert D. Eldridge and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-01-21 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.
Download or read book Japanese Public Opinion and the War on Terrorism written by Paul Midford and published by . This book was released on 2006-01-01 with total page 72 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Public Opinion International Intervention written by Richard Sobel and published by Potomac Books, Inc.. This book was released on 2012 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The role of public opinion in nations' decisions to join or withdraw from the war in Iraq
Download or read book Rethinking Postwar Okinawa written by Pedro Iacobelli and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2017-11-22 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This edited volume presents the latest multidisciplinary research that delves into developments related to contemporary Okinawa (a.k.a Ryukyu Islands), and also engages with contemporary debates on American hegemony and Empire in a larger geographical context. Okinawa, long viewed as a marginalized territory in larger historical processes, has been characterized solely by the U.S. military presence in the islands, despite having embraced a multiplicity of social and cultural transformations since the end of the Pacific War. In this timely academic revision of Okinawa, occurring at the time of numerous debates over the building of yet another military base in the island, this volume's contributors tell a story that situates Okinawa in the context of other militarized territories and thus, goes beyond the limits of Okinawa prefecture. Indeed, the book examines the ways in which studies on Okinawa have evolved, moving away from the direct problems brought by the establishment of foreign military bases. Previous studies have explicated how Okinawa has fallen prey to power politics of more dominant nations. In expanding on these themes, this volume examines the unique social and cultural dynamics of Okinawa and its people that had never been intended by the political authorities.
Download or read book Governing Insecurity in Japan written by Wilhelm Vosse and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-06-27 with total page 199 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the end of the Cold War, Japan's security environment has changed significantly. While, on the global level, the United States is still Japan's most important security partner, the nature of the partnership has changed as a result of shifting demands from the United States, new international challenges such as the North Korean nuclear programme and the rapid rise of China. At the same time, Japan has been confronted with new, ‘non-traditional’ security threats such as international terrorism, the spread of infectious diseases, and global environmental problems. On the domestic level, demographic change, labour migration, economic decline, workplace insecurity, and a weakening impact of policy initiatives challenge the sustainability of the lifestyle of many Japanese and have led to a heightened sense of insecurity among the Japanese public. This book focuses on the domestic discourse on insecurity in Japan and goes beyond military security. The chapters cover issues such as Japan’s growing perception of regional and global insecurity; the changing role of military forces; the perceived risk of Chinese foreign investment; societal, cultural and labour insecurity and how it is affected by demographic changes and migration; as well as food insecurity and its challenges to health and public policy. Each chapter asks how the Japanese public perceives these insecurities; how these perceptions influence the public discourse, the main stakeholders of this discourse, and how this affects state-society relations and government policies. Governing Insecurity in Japan provides new insights into Japanese and international discourses on security and insecurity, and the ways in which security is conceptualized in Japan. As such, it will be of interest to students and scholars working on Japanese politics, security studies and international relations.
Download or read book The Oxford Handbook of the International Relations of Asia written by Saadia M. Pekkanen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2014-08-19 with total page 841 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the past quarter century, the importance of Asia in international relations has grown exponentially. This Handbook gathers the most important scholars in the field of Asia's international relations to address this momentous change in world politics. The editors and contributors focus on three basic themes: assessing appropriate theories for explaining the evolution of the international relations of Asian countries within the region and with the rest of the world; tracing the recent history of Asia in world politics; and focusing on emerging trends. The Handbook brings readers the latest scholarship on the bilateral, regional, and global relations of Asian countries in the fields of political economy, national security, and human security. Comprehensive in theme, breadth, and methodology, this Handbook is a timely addition to the existing literature on the changes currently underway in Asian countries that promise to have significant implications for world politics.
Download or read book Japan s Aging Peace written by Tom Phuong Le and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2021-06-22 with total page 388 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the end of World War II, Japan has not sought to remilitarize, and its postwar constitution commits to renouncing aggressive warfare. Yet many inside and outside Japan have asked whether the country should or will return to commanding armed forces amid an increasingly challenging regional and global context and as domestic politics have shifted in favor of demonstrations of national strength. Tom Phuong Le offers a novel explanation of Japan’s reluctance to remilitarize that foregrounds the relationship between demographics and security. Japan’s Aging Peace demonstrates how changing perceptions of security across generations have culminated in a culture of antimilitarism that constrains the government’s efforts to pursue a more martial foreign policy. Le challenges a simple opposition between militarism and pacifism, arguing that Japanese security discourse should be understood in terms of “multiple militarisms,” which can legitimate choices such as the mobilization of the Japan Self-Defense Forces for peacekeeping operations and humanitarian relief missions. Le highlights how factors that are not typically linked to security policy, such as aging and declining populations and gender inequality, have played crucial roles. He contends that the case of Japan challenges the presumption in international relations scholarship that states must pursue the use of force or be punished, showing how widespread normative beliefs have restrained Japanese policy makers. Drawing on interviews with policy makers, military personnel, atomic bomb survivors, museum coordinators, grassroots activists, and other stakeholders, as well as analysis of peace museums and social movements, Japan’s Aging Peace provides new insights for scholars of Asian politics, international relations, and Japanese foreign policy.
Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Japanese Foreign Policy written by Mayako Shimamoto and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2015-07-01 with total page 413 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Historical Dictionary of Japanese Foreign Policy covers its history through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 400 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 Japanese Foreign Policy.
Download or read book Children and the Responsibility to Protect written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2019-06-03 with total page 311 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Children and the Responsibility to Protect, Bina D’Costa and Luke Glanville bring together more than a dozen academics and practitioners from around the world to examine the intersections of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) principle and the theory and practice of child protection. Contributors consider themes including how the agency and vulnerability of children is represented and how their voices are heard in discussions of R2P and child protection, and the merits of drawing together the R2P and Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) agendas, as well as case studies of children’s lives in conflict zones, child soldiers, and children born of conflict-related sexual violence. This collection of essays was first published in the journal Global Responsibility to Protect (vol.10/1-2, 2018) as a special issue. Contributors are: J. Marshall Beier, Letícia Carvalho, Bina D’Costa, Myriam Denov, Luke Glanville, Michelle Godwin, Erin Goheen Glanville, Cecilia Jacob, Dustin Johnson, Atim Angela Lakor, Katrina Lee-Koo, Ryoko Nakano, Jochen Prantl, Jeremy Shusterman, Hannah Sparwasser Soroka, Timea Spitka, Jana Tabak, Shelly Whitman.
Download or read book The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies written by James D Babb and published by SAGE. This book was released on 2014-12-15 with total page 1373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A welcome addition to any reading list for those interested in contemporary Japanese society. - Roger Goodman, Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Society, University of Oxford "I know no better book for an accessible and up-to-date introduction to this complex subject than The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japan Studies." - Hiroko Takeda, Associate Professor, Organization for Global Japanese Studies, University of Tokyo "Pioneering and nuanced in analysis, yet highly accessible and engaging in style." - Yoshio Sugimoto, Emeritus Professor, La Trobe University The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies includes outstanding contributions from a diverse group of leading academics from across the globe. This volume is designed to serve as a major interdisciplinary reference work and a seminal text, both rigorous and accessible, to assist students and scholars in understanding one of the major nations of the world. James D. Babb is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University.
