Japan has risen in stature to become an important player not only in the Western Pacific, but the wider Indo-Pacific. From a defeated nation that adopted a pacifist constitution and demilitarization, Japan has been provoked by unwelcomed external events to ensure its security. It has faced a challenging security environment and specific threats that have transformed its domestic politics and given rise to debates about the relevance of its pacifist constitution. North Korea’s nuclear and missile tests, and China’s pressure in the maritime Southwest and the South China Sea, as well as its belligerence over Taiwan, have raised Japanese fears of instability and conflict. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has alarmed Japan that China would similarly resort to force. This present volume includes chapters by experts, Japanese as well as non-Japanese, who examine these issues and how Japan responds to a more threatening security environment while managing its domestic politics. They discuss the debate about the pacifist constitution, the alliance with the US, Japan’s Quad partners, India and Australia and how Japan moves to maintain and protect a free and open regional and international order from which it has benefited.
- Cover
- Table of Contents
- Contributors
- List of Acronyms
- Introduction
- Part 1 Overview of Japanese Security
- 1 The Development of Japan’s Security
- Part 2 Domestic Sources
- 2 Domestic Sources of Japan’s Security Policy
- 3 The Pacifism-Security Nexus in Japan’s Security Policy
- 4 Political Power Shift and Japan’s Security Policy Process
- 5 Defense Policy, the Constitution, and Society
- 6 Constitutional Reinterpretation under Prime Minister Abe: Incremental Change or Radical Shift?
- Part 3 Defense and Strategy
- 7 Developments and Transformations in Japan’s Defense Planning and Readiness
- 8 Japanese Sea Power Development: Shift from Coastal Defense to SLOC Protection
- 9 Japan’s Defense Strategy: The Maritime Dimension
- 10 From Basic Law to the Multi-Domain Defense Force: Ten Years of Transformation in Japan’s Space Program
- 11 The Nuclear Weapons Debate in Japan from the Perspective of Two-Level Games
- 12 Japan’s National Security and Science-Technology Management
- 13 Japan’s Cybersecurity Strategy and Policy
- Part 4 US Alliance
- 14 Japan’s Alliance Relations with the US
- 15 The US-Japan Alliance in an Era of Geopolitical and Domestic Change
- Part 5 The Indo-Pacific
- 16 Japan’s National Security and China
- 17 Japan and the Korean Peninsula
- 18 North Korea’s Nuclear Posture and Japan’s Responses
- 19 Japan and ASEAN: Fifty Years of Cooperation and Trust
- 20 Japan’s Strategic Ties with India: Beyond the Cliché
- 21 Japan and Australia: Forging an Indo-Pacific Partnership
- H. D. P. Envall and Thomas S. Wilkins
- Index