Abstract
This article analyzes Japanese foreign security policy and recent talk of “remilitarization.” It does so by assessing the changes that most closely parallel the analytical interests of three sets of major international relations theories: namely capability (realism), policy (liberalism), and normative context (constructivism). Japanese responses to recurring North Korean missile tests moreover provide a source for a contextually bound analysis of policy and self-image. The article confirms that the last two decades have witnessed a number of important changes in security aspects of Japanese foreign policy but concludes that these changes are not nearly so dramatic as to justify the bold language of many Japan specialists. Hence, it serves to moderate the scholarly tendency to overemphasize or overly dramatize the changes in Japanese security policy.
Read the article online here (subscription required).