Winter 2007/08
"'New Fighting Power!' Japan's Growing Maritime Capabilities and East Asian Security"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 3, volume 32
After World War II, Japan’s U.S.-imposed constitution and regional opposition to its rearmament severely restricted its military capabilities. Recently, however, Japanese leaders have found a way around these external and internal restrictions by reframing the nature of the threat they face and by empowering the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) while reassuring the country’s citizens and neighbors by classifying the JCG as a police, rather than a military, force. Although the JCG will not become a “second navy,” it is continually gaining in power, and is already a fourth branch of the Japanese military, allowing Japan to take the lead in regional maritime security initiatives.
Spring 1998
"Mercantile Realism and Japanese Foreign Policy"
Journal Article, International Security, issue 4, volume 22
By Eric Heginbotham and Richard J. Samuels
The authors review Japan’s post-1945 foreign policy in light of both structural realism and mercantile realism, which, the authors state, “recognizes technoeconomic security interests—including, but not limited to, those associated with military security—as central considerations of state policy.”
