The United Nations in Japan's Foreign and Security Policymaking, 1945-1992: National Security, Party Politics, and International Status

by Liang Pan

Overview

In the mid-1950s, as part of Tokyo's goal of reinstating Japan as a full member of the international community, Japan sought and gained admittance to the United Nations. Since then, it has been a proactive member and a generous financial contributor to the organization. This study focuses on postwar Japan's foreign policy making in the political and security areas, the core UN missions. It analyzes these two policy arenas from three perspectives—international political structure, domestic political organization, and the psychology of policymakers.

The intent is to illustrate how policy goals forged by national security concerns, domestic politics, and psychological needs gave shape to Japan's complicated and sometimes incongruous policy toward the UN since World War II. In contrast to the usual emphasis on the role of the foreign-policy bureaucracy, however, the author argues that we must view the bureaucracy as functioning within a larger framework of party politics and interactions among government agencies, political parties, and other actors associated with these parties. The last part of the book addresses the psychological aspect of Japan's UN policymaking in an effort to elucidate the role of national prestige in generating Japanese policy toward the UN.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674019638
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	01/30/2006
Series:	Harvard East Asian Monographs , #257
Pages:	300
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

About the Author

Liang Pan is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Tsukuba.

Table of Contents

Abbreviations

Introduction

Part I: The UN and Japan's Struggle for Peace and Security

1. Japan and the UN"s Security Function in the Early Postwar Era

2. The Burgeoning Disillusion

3. The Turbulent Days

4. Toward a New Trend?

Part II: The UN and Japanese Party Politics

5. The UN and Domestic Politics in the Occupation Era: Developing a Security Formula

6. The UN: A Political Panacea (1)

7. the UN: A Political Panacea (2)

Part III: The UN and Japan's International Status

8. Fighting for Equal Status: The Road to the UN

9. Seeking the Highest Status: The Battle for UNSC Permanent Membership

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index

Editorial Reviews

The title of this work might suggest much ado about a very limited subject; it is not easy to cite offhand how the UN has been important in shaping Japanese security policies. Yet it turns out that a careful examination of Japanese debates about matters related to the UN reveals a great deal about the nuanced calculations of Japanese decision-makers. The study starts with Japanese bureaucrats exploring the possibility of using the newly established UN as a security institution for protecting a newly democratic Japan. The Korean War quickly left them disillusioned with the UN and forced them to accept the idea of a security treaty with the United States. But even in the negotiations for that treaty, the Japanese repeatedly proposed that the preamble should be the article of the UN Charter that gives legitimacy to individual and collective self-defense measures. In domestic Japanese politics, meanwhile, both the government and the opposition parties repeatedly treated the UN as a panacea. However, the Japanese have once again become disillusioned with the UN since their campaign to get a permanent seat on the Security Council failed to get adequate international support.

Foreign Affairs