From the publisher: With the Gulf War as a trigger, Japan began to make a humanitarian contribution by dispatching the Self Defense Forces to United Nations peacekeeping operations. Given Japan’s strong hesitation for participation in the past, Japan’s peacekeeping policy presents an intriguing challenge to examine the factors for a preference change and sustained compliance. By investigating Japan’s peacekeeping policies towards East Timor and Haiti, this article examines how Japan’s behavior and preferences were influenced by either internalized norms or cost/benefit calculations. While norm-driven behavior is considered to be incompatible with strategic calculated behavior, the article demonstrates that these two factors can co-exist.
Kyoko Hatakeyama is an Assistant Professor at Kansai Gaidai University in Japan and currently teaching International Relations. Prior to this position, she worked as a research analyst at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. Her research interests include Japan’s security policy and International Relations Theory with a focus on constructivism. Her latest research focuses on Japan’s arms trade ban policy and its relations to domestic norms (Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research).
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