Italy and Japan as Security Actors: Still Free Riding on the US?

Abstract

This chapter compares Italian and Japanese foreign and security policy choices highlighting the preeminent role the United States (US) had in Rome and Tokyo’s security policy decisions. Historical and normative commonalities between Italy and Japan will help explain their peculiar roles as so-called middle powers within the international system and vis-a-vis the US. Similarities in respect to the alliance structure with the US, pacifist constitutions and historical restrictions posed by US occupation are examined. The Gulf War in 1991, the crisis in Kosovo in the mid-1990s and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq highlight the military support Italy and Japan offered the US. The rise of China and the events of the Arab Spring pose new challenges for US foreign policy. In this context Italy, and even more so Japan, will continue to play a substantial geo-strategic role for the US.