From Liberalisation to Militarisation: The 'Civilising' of Japan and the End of the Pacifist Experiment

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dc.contributor.authorMoses, J.
dc.contributor.authorIwami, T.
dc.date.accessioned2010-12-15T02:50:17Z
dc.date.available2010-12-15T02:50:17Z
dc.date.issued2008en
dc.description.abstractThe pacifist commitment contained in Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution has long been a source of scholarly interest and debate. While the insertion of the clause in the post-WWII constitution was originally justified by General MacArthur (amongst others) as an expression of the ‘high ideals’ of liberalism and democracy that Japan was now embracing, it has since been derided as an impediment to effective Japanese participation in wars fought by the United States that are claimed to be in defence of freedom and democracy. This reversal of liberal logic became evident in the early years of the Cold War as Japan was encouraged to support the US in the Korean War and has strengthened in the years since. From the first Gulf War of 1991, up to the current War on Terror, much has been made of the constraints that Japan faces in supporting the ‘defence of freedom’ on a global scale. This paper aims to show the place of liberal discourses in relation to the pacifist clause in order to highlight the great ambiguity and inconsistency that exists in liberal claims concerning the promotion of peace in international affairs. In the context of tensions over Taiwan and North Korea, as well as the potential for controversial ‘humanitarian’ roles for the Japanese military in the South Pacific, these normative questions aim to shed light on the potential dangers of Japanese remilitarisation on liberal-internationalist grounds.en
dc.identifier.citationMoses, J., Iwami, T. (2008) From Liberalisation to Militarisation: The 'Civilising' of Japan and the End of the Pacifist Experiment. University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia: Third Oceanic Conference on International Studies (OCIS), 2-4 Jul 2008.en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10092/5005
dc.language.isoen
dc.publisherUniversity of Canterbury. School of Social and Political Sciencesen
dc.publisherUniversity of Canterbury. Political Scienceen
dc.rights.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10092/17651en
dc.subject.anzsrcFields of Research::44 - Human society::4408 - Political science::440807 - Government and politics of Asia and the Pacificen
dc.titleFrom Liberalisation to Militarisation: The 'Civilising' of Japan and the End of the Pacifist Experimenten
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