This book offers a comprehensive overview of Japan's national security institutions and policy today, including a detailed discussion of Japan's regional security environment and its alliance with the United States in the context of the Democratic Party of Japan's rise to power in August 2009. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, making Japan one of the United States's longest and most important military allies. Over 40,000 US troops are based in Japan, as is the only U.S. aircraft carrier based outside the United States, the USS George Washington. Japan possesses one of the world's largest economies and strongest military forces, and as a result, its national security policies and institutions are highly significant—not just to America, but to the rest of the global community as well. This book provides an overview of Japan's transformation into one of the world's most capable military powers over the past 150 years. Particular attention is paid to developments in the past decade, such as the 2009 change in the controlling political party and Japan's responses to new global security threats.

For decades after World War II, Japan chose to focus on soft power and economic diplomacy alongside a close alliance with the United States, eschewing a potential leadership role in regional and global security. Since the end of the Cold War, and especially since the rise of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's military capabilities have resurged. In this analysis of Japan's changing military policy, Andrew L. Oros shows how a gradual awakening to new security challenges has culminated in the multifaceted "security renaissance" of the past decade. Despite openness to new approaches, however, three historical legacies—contested memories of the Pacific War and Imperial Japan, postwar anti-militarist convictions, and an unequal relationship with the United States—play an outsized role. In Japan's Security Renaissance Oros argues that Japan's future security policies will continue to be shaped by these legacies, which Japanese leaders have struggled to address. He argues that claims of rising nationalism in Japan are overstated, but there has been a discernable shift favoring the conservative Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party. Bringing together Japanese domestic politics with the broader geopolitical landscape of East Asia and the world, Japan's Security Renaissance provides guidance on this century's emerging international dynamics.

This book shows how one of the most powerful tools of security studies—strategic culture—illuminates the origins and implications of the Asia-Pacific region’s difficult issues, from the rise of China and the American pivot, to the shifting calculations of many other actors. Strategic culture sometimes challenges and always enriches prevailing neo-realist presumptions about the region. It provides a bridge between material and ideational explanations of state behavior and helps capture the tension between neoclassical realist and constructivist approaches. The case studies in this book survey the role of strategic culture in the behaviors of Australia, China, Japan, the Philippines, South Korea and the United States. They show the contrast between structural expectations and cultural predispositions, as realist geopolitical security threats and opportunities interact with domestic elite and popular interpretation of historical narratives and distinctive political-military cultures to influence security policies. The concluding chapter devotes special attention to methodological issues at the heart of strategic cultural studies, as well as how culture may impact the potential for future conflict or cooperation in the region. The result is a body of work that helps deepen our understanding of strategic cultures in the Asia-Pacific in comparative perspective and enrich security studies. This bookw as published as a special issue of Contemporary Security Policy.

Since the end of World War II, primarily through the actions of external powers, the Korean peninsula has been divided—with North and South Korea engaged in a competition for the heart and soul of the Korean nation and international legitimacy. President Bill Clinton called the peninsula one of the scariest places on earth and some experts have referred to it as one of the last vestiges of the Cold War. Now, well into the first decade of the 21st century and many years after the end of the Cold War, President Clinton's observation remains accurate. In fact, the argument can be made that the Korean peninsula is even more dangerous than it was in 1993. How did this happen when, throughout most of its more than 2,000 year history, Korea was one of the most homogeneous countries among the world's nation states, with its people sharing a common language and ethnicity? Berry compares the ways in which the two Koreas developed their respective political and economic systems over the past 50 years, as well as the competition between them. He examines the North Korean nuclear weapons program, analyzes the challenge to peace and stability it represents, and concludes with predictions of possible outcomes in this volatile area.

This book offers a comprehensive overview of Japan's national security institutions and policy today, including a detailed discussion of Japan's regional security environment and its alliance with the United States in the context of the Democratic Party of Japan's rise to power in August 2009. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, making Japan one of the United States's longest and most important military allies. Over 40,000 US troops are based in Japan, as is the only U.S. aircraft carrier based outside the United States, the USS George Washington. Japan possesses one of the world's largest economies and strongest military forces, and as a result, its national security policies and institutions are highly significant--not just to America, but to the rest of the global community as well. This book provides an overview of Japan's transformation into one of the world's most capable military powers over the past 150 years. Particular attention is paid to developments in the past decade, such as the 2009 change in the controlling political party and Japan's responses to new global security threats.

Despite the appearance of political and military stability, Egypt may be standing at the edge of a precipice as the state remains grounded in rigid authoritarianism while the population, including a struggling civil society, readies itself to make the leap to democratization. This characterization has far-reaching implications for relations between citizens and the government, as well as Egypt's foreign affairs posture, particularly in the Middle East. State repression of civil, political, and religious actors; the ineffectual provision of social services; and two religious divides, between Coptic Christianity and Islam on the one hand, and secular and conservative Islamic traditions on the other, make for an incendiary domestic environment. The resulting over-reliance on security services to quash dissent could result in a population more amenable to less democratic methods of regime change and/or the development of stronger linkages between regional Islamist groups, whether they be political, militant, or some combination thereof. Global Security Watch—Egypt explores the historical background that created the current realities in Egypt and examines the players and events influencing the nation today. It concludes with a series of recommendations for the Egyptian political establishment, and for the American government, in the belief that meaningful political and policy changes in Egypt can lead to an improvement in human rights, democracy, justice, stability, and security for Egypt, and an improved partnership between Egypt and the United States.

This work provides an introduction to both the conventional 'hard' security issues which dominated international relations during the Cold War and the 'soft' security issues which have emerged in the post-Cold War era.

"The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic marks the most significant, singular global disruption since World War II, with health, economic, political, and security implications that will ripple for years to come." -Global Trends 2040 (2021) Global Trends 2040-A More Contested World (2021), released by the US National Intelligence Council, is the latest report in its series of reports starting in 1997 about megatrends and the world's future. This report, strongly influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic, paints a bleak picture of the future and describes a contested, fragmented and turbulent world. It specifically discusses the four main trends that will shape tomorrow's world: - Demographics-by 2040, 1.4 billion people will be added mostly in Africa and South Asia. - Economics-increased government debt and concentrated economic power will escalate problems for the poor and middleclass. - Climate-a hotter world will increase water, food, and health insecurity. - Technology-the emergence of new technologies could both solve and cause problems for human life. Students of trends, policymakers, entrepreneurs, academics, journalists and anyone eager for a glimpse into the next decades, will find this report, with colored graphs, essential reading.