Questioning Pacifism: Collective Identity and Security Policy in Japan.

This paper will examine the evolution of Japanese national attitudes and security policy since the Cold War and will demonstrate how ideational explanations provide insights into Japan?s security policy in the 21st century. Adopting the constructivist framework of ideational impact on national policy (e.g., Katzenstein, 1996) but challenging the constructivist conclusion that Japan?s national identity is a pacifist state, this study will demonstrate how changes in Japanese collective identity have impacted security policy over the last fifteen years. Three questions will be asked: (1) How have public attitudes evolved in Japan since the end of the Cold War and how have these changing public attitudes affected security policy to date?; (2) what domestic and international factors explain shifts in public attitudes and national policy?; and (3) what are the implications of changes in public attitudes and national identity for the future of Japanese security policy?This paper argues that the highly unstable environments in East Asia and the world have encouraged the emergence of a new collective identity in Japan based on the concept of a ?normal state,? a state possessing military power commensurate with its economic power. The idea of a normal state has been promoted by ?international hawks? who define Japan?s national role not only as a promoter of its national interests but also as a defender of international peace and security that does not hesitate to resort to military means when necessary. The paper further argues that this new identity has affected the behavior of state leaders, who have sought to strengthen the U.S.-Japan security treaty and significantly expand the role of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces overseas. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]