A Pacifist Constitution for an Armed Empire.

Axel Berkofsky

A Pacifist Constitution for an Armed Empire.

Past and Present of Japanese Security and Defence Policies

Japan is an officially pacifist country but does not have pacifist security and defence policies. Today’s Japan boasts ‘Self-Defence Forces’ equipped with an annual budget of 47 billion US dollars. To be sure, this is not what General Douglas MacArthur had in mind when, in 1945, he set out to transform Japan from imperialist and militarist into peace-loving and democratic...

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Pagine: 320

ISBN: 9788856845044

Edizione: 1a edizione 2012

Codice editore: 238.24

Disponibilità: Buona

Pagine: 320

ISBN: 9788856872057

Edizione:1a edizione 2012

Codice editore: 238.24

Possibilità di stampa: No

Possibilità di copia: No

Possibilità di annotazione: Sì

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Japan is an officially pacifist country but does not have pacifist security and defence policies. While Article 9 of the Japanese US-imposed post-war Constitution of 1947 does not even allow the country to maintain armed forces, today's Japan boasts 'Self-Defence Forces' equipped with an annual budget of 47 billion US dollars. To be sure, this is not what General Douglas MacArthur had in mind when, in 1945, he set out to transform Japan from imperialist and militarist into peace-loving and democratic.
MacArthur took over the drafting of Japan's Constitution when the country's post-war leaders proved unable to spell the word 'pacifist' and did not think that the US general was serious when ordering to transform the Emperor from head to symbol of the state. A world record breaking one week was all it took MacArthur to do just that requesting Japan to bit the bullet and approve the Constitution no questions asked.
To sweeten the deal, Washington promised not to let the Allied Forces incriminate and convict the Emperor as war criminal at the Tokyo Tribunal. Today, Japan's revisionists continue to make their typically noisy case for getting rid of constitutionally-induced pacifism to restore the country's dignity while Japan's military is already doing what armed forces of normal countries do: sending troops abroad keeping and enforcing peace.
How all of this works out and makes sense, at least more or less, is the story told in this book.

Axel Berkofsky is Gianni Mazzocchi Fellow at the University of Pavia, Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI) in Milan and member of the Executive Committee at the European Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN) in Stockholm. He is the author of the volume Die Neuen Amerikanisch-Japanischen Leitlinien für Verteidigungskooperation (Lit-Verlag, Hamburg 2005) and has written numerous articles, essays and papers on Japan, China, EU-Asia and Asian security. Previously, Axel Berkofsky has worked as Senior Policy Analyst at the European Policy Centre (EPC) in Brussels, has worked three years in Japan and has taught at more than 100 think tanks, Universities and research institutes in Europe and Asia.



 Acknowledgements
Giovanna Mazzocchi, Presentation
Carlo Filippini, Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction
Part 1
 Japan Surrenders
(General Douglas MacArthur Takes Over; Ignoring Orders from Washington; Emperor-Sponsored Surrender; Revolution from Above; Turning Human, Courtesy of the US; But Ready for Democracy?; Too Easy?)
Falsifying History and Keeping The Emperor
(Lying with and for the Emperor; The Emperor and Pearl Harbour-Economical with the Truth; The Emperor-MacArthur Axis of Cynics; The MacArthur-Emperor Meetings)
Reforming Japan
(A 'Holy' Mission; Adopting Reforms; MacArthur's Blunder)
The Men with a Plan (Long in Advance)
(Not Provoking the Enemy; Preventing Surprises)
Japan is Trying to Draft a Constitution - 'The Matsumoto Draft'
(Not (Really) Interested in Revision; Revision without Revising; Not Checking with the Boss; The Draft Goes Public; MacArthur's Turn; The One Week Constitution; 'Far Eastern Commission' ('FEC') not in Charge, MacArthur Says; Shocking Japan; Matsumoto Still Didn't Get it; The Emperor's OK; No Bad News Allowed; 'Guided Democracy'; Supervising Freedom of Expression; The Orders from a Disempowered Emperor; Bypassing Washington and the 'FEC', Again; Yoshida Falling in Line; 'Imperial Democracy'; The Parliament's OK; The Peoples' Ideas; Promulgating the Constitution; The Japanese Emperor-from Head to Symbol of the State; An 'Alien Import')
Codifying Japanese Pacifism - Article 9
(Article 9 and the 'Ashida Amendment'; Copyright Controversies; The 'FEC' Wants a Word; Flip-Flopping and U-Turning on Article 9; The Constitution and Japan's 'Kokutai'; A Role Model, it was Hoped; Article 9, Armed Forces, the Cabinet Legislation Bureau and Collective Self-Defence; Genuine Support or Bandwagoning?; Article 9 and the Japanese Supreme Court)
Shifting US Priorities and Beginning of The Early End of Japanese Pacifism
(Leaving the Fighting up to the US-The Yoshida Doctrine; Japan's Re-armament; Revision of the 'US-Japan Security Treaty')
Revising the Revised Constitution
(The 'LDP'-'Conservative Pragmatists' Versus 'Conservative Revisionists'; Come in the Revisionists-in-Chief: Nobusuke Kishi and Yasuhiro Nakasone; Ideological Counterparts and Constitutional Revision; Constitutional Revision in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s; Re-Activating Revisionism-Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi; 'Normal Nationalists'; Newspaper-Sponsored Revisionism; Alternative Proposals; Taking Revision to the Parliament; Not A Big Deal, After All; The 'National Referendum Law' (2007); Unaware of the Consequences; The 'Hollowing-Out' of Article 9; Nuclear Armament Despite Article 9?; Article 9 and Collective Self-Defence Today; The Survival of Article 9; Constitutional Revision and the 'DPJ')
Conclusions Part 1
Part 2
 Non-Pacifist Defence and Security Policies of a Pacifist Country
(More or Less 'Normal' Country; Drivers; Exploiting Real and Imaginary Threats; Japan's China Problem)
Japanese Defence and Security Policies in the 1990s
(Japan's Gulf War Trauma; Japan Must Become 'Normal'!; Japan's Peacekeeping Law)
The Koizumi Defence and Security Policy Years
(Seizing the Moment to Defend Japanese Territory; Japan, Koizumi and September 11, 2001; Japan's Navy in the Indian Ocean and the 'Anti-Terrorism Law'; The Mission in Iraq (2004-2006); Legal Shortcomings; The Indian Ocean, Iraq and the Gulf of Aden-Farewell to Pacifism for Good?)
Tokyo's Defence and Security Policies Today
(Japan's Anti-Piracy Mission in the Gulf of Aden (2009-); Japan in Afghanistan Today; Upgrading Japan's Military Capabilities; US-Japan Missile Defence; Upgrading Japan's Coast Guard (JGC); Reconnaissance Satellites; Japan's 'Nuclear Option'; The US-Japan Security Alliance and the Futenma Base Controversy)
Japan's Trouble with North Korea
(The 'Abduction Issue'; Pressure from the Inside; Temporary Rapprochement; A Convenient Catch-All Threat; But Really a Threat?; Japan, North Korea and the 'Six-Party Talks'; Blaming Japan; Japanese Sanctions; Lack Economic Diplomacy; Japanese-Chinese Rivalry; US-Japan Friction over North Korea; Bleak Prospects)
'The National Defence Programme Guidelines' ('NDPG') (December 2010)
('Dynamic' Armed Forces; Re-locating and Re-structuring Troops and Firepower; Scarce Funds; Drivers and Targets; Contributions to Regional and Global Security; Legal Base with Expiry Date; Not Revising Japan's 'Non-Nuclear Principles' (Yet); China Worries; One-dimensional Security and Defence Policies?; Not Lifting the Weapons Export Ban in December 2010; Lifting it in December 2011; Not Touching Article 9, Not Authorizing Collective Self-Defence; The Defence Guidelines and Japanese-Chinese Disputes in the East China Sea)
Conclusions
Bibliography
Annex
List of names.

Contributi: Carlo Filippini, Giovanna Mazzocchi

Collana: Collana storica del centro studi per i popoli extraeuropei dell'Universita' di Pavia

Argomenti: Storia politica e diplomatica

Livello: Studi, ricerche

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