Growing Pains: Neoclassical Realism and Japan's Security Policy Emancipation

Abstract

The rise of China has attracted considerable scholarly attention since the early 1990s. Recent developments in Japan leave no doubt, however, that close attention to Tokyo's changing foreign and security policy also is in order. In a break with tradition, the government of Prime Minister Shinzō Abe's approved in 2014 a new interpretation of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, facilitating the shift from basic self-defence to collective self-defence that allows Japan to assume greater regional and global security assertiveness and responsibility. This article examines the trajectory of Japan's security policy transformation, focusing on the causes and nature of this dramatic reorientation. By applying a neoclassical realist framework, the article traces the intricate interplay between shifts in Japan's strategic environment, domestic politics and the security policy decision-making process. Abe and the hawkism he represents will undoubtedly face Herculean hurdles in the future. Still, continued external challenges will inevitably force Tokyo to ‘normalize’ its security policy and shed off the remaining relics of its pacifism and anti-militarism. The article also concludes that the significant inducements driving Japanese security normalization are challenged by powerful domestic opposition. While the process will remain piecemeal rather than revolutionary, the course of Japan's security policy favours continued self-assertion, emancipation and reform.