* No registration is required.

Date and Time: Tuesday, May 19, 2015, 17:00-
Venue: 549 Conference Room, 5th Floor,
Akamon General Research Building

http://www.iss.u-tokyo.ac.jp/guide/index.html

Speaker:
Dr. Volker Krause
Associate Professor, Department of Political Science,
Eastern Michigan University

Title:
Article 9 in a Tough Neighborhood: Evidence from Poll and Event Data

Abstract:
Although Article 9 of Japan’s post-World War II constitution says that
“the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the
nation,” Japan’s security environment demonstrates that the absence of
war does not necessarily mean the presence of peace. Memories of past
Japanese militarism still haunt Japan’s relations with states such as
China and South Korea. Yet, Japan’s aversion to militarism expressed
in its current constitution has been met on numerous occasions with
militarized challenges from Russia, China, South Korea, North Korea,
and Taiwan. The objective of this study is to look at published poll
data as well as militarized dispute event data to explain why Japan has
been gradually moving from strict self-defense of its homeland to a
proactive regional defense based on a strategy of deterrence by denial.
In this approach, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty remains vital to
Japan’s national security although it means that Japan needs to
increasingly balance its attention to regional security with U.S.
interests in more active Japanese contributions to global security.

Discussants:
HARADA Shiro, Associate Professor, III, UTokyo
MAEDA Yukio, Associate Professor, III&ISS, UTokyo