Abstract
After the widely reported humiliation in the Gulf War in 1991, when Japan refrained from supporting the United States in any meaningful military way by pointing to constitutional restraints, the government in Tokyo has tried to incrementally change Japan’s defense posture during the subsequent two and a half decades and opted to engage more actively in international security affairs. Far-reaching policy changes became possible through the articulation of several foreign policy crises by the Japanese government in the 1990s and the early 2000s: the first crisis came in 1993 and 1994 with North Korea’s withdrawal from the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the risk of war with the United States; the second crisis was articulated in the aftermath of Pyongyang’s ballistic missile test on August 31, 1998; the third developed with the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, setting the stage for major shifts within the institutional structure of Japanese defense policies until today.
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Notes
- 1.
As Laclau puts it in Emancipation(s): “If all differential struggles […] are equally capable of expressing […] the absent fullness of the community, […] if none is predetermined per se to fulfil this role; what does determine that one of them rather than another incarnates, at particular periods of time, this universal function?” (1996, p. 42). In this context, we can refer again to Vasquez and Mansbach (1983), who contend that global political change proceeds through identifiable stages; for an analysis of ideal-types in IR, see Williams (2005, p. 111–113).
- 2.
“Pullout of nuclear pact further isolates North Korea”, in: The Nikkei Weekly, 15 March 1993.
- 3.
“Tokyo concerned over Pyongyang’s move”, in: The Japan Times, 13 March 1993.
- 4.
Dialogue with North Korea urged, in: The Japan Times, 15 March 1993.
- 5.
“North’s nuclear ability rated”, in: The Japan Times, 17 March 1993.
- 6.
“Tokyo to keep pressure on Pyongyang”, in: The Nikkei Weekly, 5 April 1993.
- 7.
“Nitchô kôshô ni eikyô sezu“ (No impact on normalization talks), in: Nihon Keizai Shinbun, 13 June 1993.
- 8.
“Pyongyang clarity urged”, in: The Japan Times, 21 June 1994.
- 9.
“Japan has ability to make nuclear bombs, Hata admits”, in: The Japan Times, 18 June1994.
- 10.
Nabers 2001; “Far East crisis cooperation eyed”, in: The Japan Times, 16 April 1996.
- 11.
See the text of the guidelines and related documents in: Japan Times, 24 September 1997; The Daily Yomiuri, 24 September 1997.
- 12.
“Diet begins full debate on defense cooperation bills”, in: The Japan Times, 18 March 1999; “Govt to set up panel on intelligence satellite”, in: The Daily Yomiuri, 16 March 1999; “3 Parties in accord on defense guidelines bills”, in: The Daily Yomiuri, 16 April 1999.
- 13.
“Kita chôsen, taiheiyô ni misairu”, in: Asahi Shinbun, 1 September 2001; Anthony (2000).
- 14.
“Seifu ga anpo kaigikon“ (Government holding secret security meeting), in: Asahi Shinbun, 2 September 1998.
- 15.
Outraged Japan to halt food, reactor aid to North Korea, in: The Japan Times, 2 September 1998.
- 16.
“Diet condemns North over firing of missile”, in: The Japan Times, 4 September 1998.
- 17.
Defense Bills Poised To Win Opening Battle, in: The Nikkei Weekly, 26 April 1999.
- 18.
“Armitage wants bills on SDF role passed soon”, The Japan Times, 7 October 2001.
- 19.
“SDF antiterrorism bill wins quick Diet passage”, The Japan Times, 6 October 2001.
- 20.
‘New defense plan urges flexibility for new threats’, The Japan Times, 6 September 2004.
- 21.
As foreign minister Yoriko Kawaguchi put it on the occasion of Assistant Secretary of State of the United States James Kelly’s visit to North Korea in October 2002: ‘Japan is very concerned about the issues of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons and missiles.’ See MOFA, 2002.
- 22.
“A crucial contingency package”, in: The Japan Times, 29 April 2003; for a critique “Xinhua Analyzes Japan’s Motives in Enacting ‘Emergency Legislation’” What Is Japan’s Purpose of Enacting the ‘Emergency Legislation’?, in: fbis-Datenbank, 16 June 2003.
- 23.
“Diet enacts legislation for war contingencies”, in: The Japan Times, 7 June 2003.
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Nabers, D. (2018). Crisis, Change and the Problem of Collective Self-Defense in Japan’s Security Policy. In: Fröhlich, S., Loewen, H. (eds) The Changing East Asian Security Landscape . Edition ZfAS. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-18894-8_8
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