Examining Waltzian Structural Logic and Japan’s Security Policy

Abstract

The problematics of a rearming Japan continue to be a jigsaw given its pacifist orientation. Japan had brought about the changes in its security policy citing new security challenges posed by burgeoning China and an unpredictable nuclear North Korea, despite the US nuclear umbrella. This paper investigates as to whether Waltzian structural logic can still explain the changes in Japan’s behaviour in the post-11 September 2001 global order. Japan has used the sanction to participate in collective security to modify its military doctrine for a more active role in the use and deployment of Self-Defence Forces and acquisition of offensive weapons. Yet, despite the prevalence of necessary conditions and, as a result, the increased vulnerability to its security, Japan has not breached the nuclear threshold, as Waltzian structural logic had predicted. Japan only managed to augment its military capabilities and ease the constitutional restrictions on use of force to a certain extent.