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Japan Embraces Internationalism: Explaining Japanese Security Policy Expansion through an Identity-Regime Approach

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2016

BHUBHINDAR SINGH*
Affiliation:
S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University, [email protected]

Abstract

The paper examines the domestic politics explanations to Japanese security policy expansion between the Cold War and post-Cold War periods. In response to the various explanations offered in the literature, such as the implementation of administrative and institutional reforms since 1994 that resulted in the centralization of the decision-making process, changes to the balance of power of political parties within the Japanese political system, and shift in the type of politicians that dominate the LDP, opposition parties and security policymaking structure, this paper argues that it is important to incorporate collective identity into understanding Japanese security policy expansion. Two reasons highlight the importance of collective identity – first, without collective identity, it is difficult to understand the type of security policy produced as the discussion of vision is omitted; and, second, collective identity reveals the organizational make-up of the security policymaking structure that is responsible for the formulation of security policy. To explicate the collective identity–institution relationship, this paper focuses on Japanese security identity and the Japanese security policymaking regime in the Cold War and post-Cold War periods. Two security identities for Japan are examined – the peace-state and international-state; and three elements of the regime are studied – the agents involved or marginalized in the security policymaking process, the decision-making structure of the security policymaking, and the role of the US. This paper aids in our understanding of how collective identities are sustained and supported within an institution, and how Japanese security policy expanded in the post-Cold War period.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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42 Ibid, xv. It is important to note that Japanese prime ministers, members of the LDP, and the bureaucracy were not only supportive of the close bilateral security relationship but also welcome US pressure at times, as this allowed them to avoid domestic responsibilities in implementing controversial policies by citing the breakdown of the US–Japan relationship as a potential consequence ( Angel, R.C. (1988/9), ‘Prime Ministerial leadership in Japan: recent changes in personal style and administrative organization’, Pacific Affairs, 61 (4): 588 CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

43 To be sure, there are other external factors apart from US pressure, such as China's strategic rise and North Korea's belligerency, that arguably impact the security policy debates in post-Cold War Japan. However, the focus of this paper is on domestic politics. The US pressure is included due to its strong institutional presence and influence since the onset of the post-war period stemming from the US–Japan security treaty.

44 This normative structure has been described in the literature as organizational or institutional culture. Legro defines this as “collectively held assumptions, ideas, and beliefs that prescribe how a group should adapt to its external environment and manage its internal structure” ( Legro, J. (1996), ‘Culture and preferences in the international cooperation two-step’, American Political Science Review, 90 (1): 121 CrossRefGoogle Scholar). It has also been referred to as an ‘episteme’ – defined by Legro, as a ‘collectively held belief characterizing a particular group about the appropriate or effective corporate behaviour’ ( Legro, J. (2000), ‘Whence American internationalism’, International Organization, 54 (2): 255 CrossRefGoogle Scholar). Whatever the appropriate reference, the important point to note is the normative element that results in an overarching ideational structure in influencing the dominant interests and preferred security behavior within the regime. Also see Kier, E.K. (1995), ‘Culture and military doctrine: France between the wars’, International Security, 19 (4): 6593 CrossRefGoogle Scholar, and Drezner, D.W. (2000), ‘Ideas, bureaucratic politics, and the crafting of foreign policy’, American Journal of Political Science, 44 (4): 733–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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51 Berger, Cultures of Anti-militarism, 104. The SDF saw a widened role in security policymaking in the mid-1970s and early 1980s. This was due to its superior technical knowledge in military matters and its close links with the US military gained through consultations and negotiations on building greater cooperation in defence matters, joint studies, and joint military exercises. The Japanese military became an important focus of US demands, requests, and expectations of Japan's defence roles and missions that occurred more behind the scenes of the security policymaking process ( Katahara, E. (2001), ‘Japan: from containment to normalization’, in Alagappa, M. (ed.), Coercion and Governance: The Declining Political Role of the Military in Asia, Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 77 Google Scholar 79.

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53 Samuels, Securing Japan, 49. The CLB provided legal advice on all critical aspects of Japanese security policy, including the SDF's constitutionality and its limitations, interpretations of collective self-defence operations, SDF's overseas deployment and the definition of the use of force. During the Cold War, the CLB was made up of officials from the various civilian ministries but no defence agency official was assigned to the bureau. All proposed legislation, speeches and regulations were vetted by the officials at the CLB. The interpretations of the CLB became the official interpretations adopted by the politicians and bureaucracy. Yoshida and his followers relied on the CLB's interpretations to deflect pressure from the US and those within Japan that pushed for an expanded security role in external security affairs. This facilitated the maintenance of a narrow security policy as captured by the peace-state identity conception (See Samuels, Securing Japan, pp. 49–52). Also see Samuels, R.J. (2004), ‘Politics, security policy, and Japan's Cabinet Legislation Bureau: who elected these guys, anyway?’, JPRI Working Article No. 99, http://www.jpri.org/publications/workingarticles/wp99.html (accessed 29 February 2012).

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58 Samuels, Securing Japan, 52–53.

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60 Shinoda, Koizumi Diplomacy, 19, 25.

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64 Examples include: Nakasone's use of personal advisors to circumvent the bureaucracy to strengthen Japan's relations with South Korea in 1983, which led to his successful visit to South Korea in January 1983; Nakasone's show of direct support to the US missile deployment in Europe during the Williamsburg Summit in January 1983; the revision of the 1967 three principles of arms exports to allow the export of military technology to the US; and strengthening the authority of the Prime Minister's Official Residence (Kantei) for crises management (Shinoda, Koizumi Diplomacy, 28–37).

65 Katzenstein and Okawara, ‘Japan's national security’, 93–5. An example to illustrate this constraint was the finance and foreign affairs ministries and even the defence agency assigning lower ranking officials (instead of the administrative vice-ministers) to serve at the Cabinet Secretariat. This allowed the ministries to retain influence over these officials and weakened the role of the Cabinet Secretariat (Angel, ‘Prime Ministerial leadership in Japan’, 599–600).

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72 Boyd and Samuels, ‘Nine lives?’, 27–41.

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75 Shinoda, Koizumi Diplomacy, 63.

76 George, ‘Japan's ‘Un-Westminster’ system’, 89; Estévez-Abe, ‘Japan's shift toward a Westminster system’, 645.

77 Boyd and Samuels, ‘Nine lives?’, 38; Calder, K.E. (2009), Pacific Alliance: Reviving US–Japan Relations, New Haven: Yale University Press, 150.Google Scholar

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79 Krauss, E.S. and Nyblade, B. (2005), ‘“Presidentialization” in Japan? The prime minister, media and election in Japan’, British Journal of Political Science, 35: 357–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

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81 George, ‘Japan's ‘Un-Westminster’ system’, 88.

82 Hughes, Japan's Remilitarisation, 55; Katahara, ‘Japan: from containment to normalization’, 82.

83 Nagashima, 1998, cited in Katahara, ‘Japan: from containment to normalization’, 82.

84 See Hughes, Japan's Remilitarisation, 53–65.

85 Shinoda, Koizumi Diplomacy, 58–59.

86 Ibid, 62.

87 Japan Times, 4 May 1996.

88 Shinoda, Koizumi Diplomacy, 93–6.

89 Ibid, 93. Parenthesis added.

90 There were instances of Japan accommodating US pressure at the expense of its foreign policy objectives early in the post-Cold War period. Examples include Japan's rejection of membership in Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC) proposal and its suspension of loan aid to Iran for a hydroelectric power in 1995 (Miyashita, ‘Gaiatsu and Japan's foreign aid’, 703–4). However, it is important to note that the focus here is on US pressure in the area of Japan's contribution to external security affairs in military terms, which weakened over the course of the post-Cold War period.

91 In response to North Korea's nuclear test in October 2006, Abe Shinzo, Koizumi's successor, adopted a quick response that included the imposition of sanctions against North Korea (a decision taken before even the United Nations Security Council's (UNSC's) resolution was passed), the closing of all Japanese ports to North Korean ships and cargo, and the ban of all visits by North Koreans to Japan ( Hughes, C.W. and Krauss, E.S. (2007), ‘Japan's new security agenda’, Survival, 49 (2): 164 CrossRefGoogle Scholar).

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94 Mainichi Daily News, 18 September 2001.

95 Emphasis added. Nikkei Weekly, 24 September 2001; Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Japan, (2001) ‘Policy Speech by Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro’, 153rd Session of the Diet, 27 September, http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/pm/koizumi/state0927.html (accessed 28 March 2005).

96 Midford, ‘Japan's response to terror’.

97 Ibid., 335–6.

98 Shinoda, T. (2002), ‘Japan's response to terrorism and the implications for the Taiwan Strait issue’, Japan–Taiwan Research Forum, 22 Google Scholar January, http://taiwansecurity.org/TS/2002/JTRF-Shinoda-0102.htm (accessed 27 June 2005).

99 Hughes, Japan Re-emergence as a ‘Normal’ Military Power, 15.

100 ‘SDF role in South Sudan to expand in May under new security laws’, The Japan Times, 22 September 2015, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/09/22/national/politics-diplomacy/sdf-role-south-sudan-expand-may-new-security-laws/; ‘Expanding SDF's role in South Sudan likely to wait until late 2016’, The Japan Times, 22 October 2015, http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2015/10/19/national/politics-diplomacy/expanding-sdfs-south-sudan-peacekeeping-role-likely-delayed-late-2016/#.V7-Vu650CC4.

101 S. Abe, ‘Peace and security in Asia, for evermore, Japan for the rule of law, Asia for the rule of law, and the rule of law for all of us’, Keynote speech delivered at the 13th Asian Security Summit, Singapore, 30 May 2014, http://www.mofa.go.jp/fp/nsp/page4e_000086.html. Also see Oros, A.L. (2015), ‘International and domestic challenges to Japan's post-war security identity: “norm constructivism” and Japan's new “proactive pacifism”’, The Pacific Review, 1 (28): 139–60CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

102 Singh, B. (2015), “The Development of Japanese Security Policy: A Long-term Defensive Strategy,” Asia Policy, 19: 4964.CrossRefGoogle Scholar