Japan’s Security Strategy andthe Flexibility within the Existing Framework: NewRealingment and Reinterpretation of Postwar Policy Tools
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61462/cujss.v47i1.778Keywords:
Japan’s security policy, Article 9, Japan-US alliance, peace contribution, collective self-defenseAbstract
The aim of this article is to answer the questions: What are the key instruments that Japan has utilized to ensure its security from the post-Cold War era to the 2010s? and how have these instruments been modified to meet new necessities? By tracing its security posture back to 3 periods – the early postwar years, the late Cold War decades when Japan became an economic power and the 2000s until today–, this article founds that the shifting alignment of 3 policy tools – Article 9 of the Constitution, Japan-US alliance and peace contribution – has long served as theoverarching strategy. These tools have been enshrined in the 1957 Basic Policy on National Defense, which traditionally served as key principles for security strategy. Although Japan’s security policy has been transformed throughout its postwar history to the current Abe Administration, these changes can be understood by examining the above three strategic tools that still function and exert influence even today. The article also demonstrates how these tools, which have essentially ambiguous characteristics from the start, have been subjected to re-interpretation, re-alignment and re-prioritization in each period, so that they can flexibly cope with new necessities in different international contextsand today’smilitary threats.
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