Ewolucja polityki bezpieczeństwa Japonii po zimnej wojnie. Od „państwa moratorium” do strategicznej „normalności"

Abstract

The security policy of the Empire of Japan in the post-World War II period is a subject of interest among both policymakers and International Relations scholars. There are two basic reasons for that. The first one comes from the traditionally important position occupied by this state in regional balance of power in Asia. The second reason comes from a fact, that at the beginning of the Cold War, Japanese leaders adapted a peculiar foreign policy and security strategy, based on disavowal of the instrument of force and limitation of the defence potentian to the indispensable minimum. This policy stood in contrast to with the common practices of the Cold War international order. It was also difficult to explain from the perspective of traditional IR theory (based on political realism), which states that the rise of state's economic power should lead to great power aspirations and intensive arms build-up. It is intriguing, that the fundamental transformation of the international order, brought by the end of the Cold War, initiated a process of change in Japanese security policy, which leads in exactly opposite direction.