[1/11 SSRI Open Lecture] Pacifism Redefined? Japan’s Security Policy in the Era of Strategic Competition

Pacifism Redefined? Japan’s Security Policy in the Era of Strategic Competition

Speaker: Mr. Shinya Oguma (Research Fellow, Policy Research Department, National Institute for Defense Studies)

Abstract

Japan’s new security documents announced in 2022, including the National Security Strategy and its first National Defense Strategy, marked the transformation of Tokyo’s security practice. It is now moving toward the possession of counterstrike capabilities and doubling the defense spending—clear departure from the post-war trajectory of self-restraint. But why did these changes occur, and what happened to security policy norms in Japan? To address these questions, this lecture highlights how domestic norms, the external environment, and the government’s policy interacted each other. The analysis suggests that domestic norms, which are often mentioned as a constraint of security policy, are not monolithic: while the shift in the balance of power and external shocks accelerated erosion of antimilitarism, Tokyo has positioned itself as a power maintaining the status quo of the international order amid the U.S.-China competition as well as Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The recent policy shift was pushed by emerging norms that champion Japan’s responsibility for peace and stability, and this implies that the nature of domestic norms in security affairs is gradually changing from prohibition to a driving force.

Date: Thursday, January 11, 2024

Time: 10:10-11:20 (JST) 

Venue: H-262

Registration: Please use the QR code or Link (except for the IRL103 students).