Collective Identity In Japan S Security Relations The Case Of The Trilateral Strategic Dialogue

Diploma Thesis from the year 2010 in the subject South Asian Studies, South-Eastern Asian Studies, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen (Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften), language: English, abstract: This study is an exploration and analysis of the ideational drivers of the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue (TSD) that was concluded in March 2006, between Japan, Australia and the United States. Turning away from materialist explanations of security cooperation, the questions of this study are: Can the conclusion of the TSD and its subsequent evolution be accounted for by a perceived collective identity between the three countries? And what is the Japanese Government ́s motivation to expand its alliances architecture? The last decade provides the timeframe for a qualitative analysis. The findings of this study show that the agreement and its following deepening is the result of a strong collective identity constituted by shared norms and democratic values. Moreover, Japan targets with the United States and Australia the establishment of a multilateral community of democratic states in the Asia-Pacific. The results also indicate, however, that collective identity promises peace between liberal states but is hostile towards non-liberal ones.

The book offers an exploration and analysis of the ideational motives which drove the establishment of the ‘Trilateral Strategic Dialogue’ (TSD), a milestone defense framework that was concluded between Japan, Australia and the United States, in March 2006. Among realists the TSD was quickly identified as power-balancing of the three countries to counter a rising China. However, non-material reasons to establish a common forum for security cooperation are evident. Not only are the three allies democracies, but Japan, and especially Australia look back on decade-old alliances with the United States. Utilizing a constructivist approach, the author argues that the establishment of the TSD can be accounted for by a strongly perceived collective identity between the leaders of the three countries, constituted by shared norms and democratic values. The book sheds light on the normative drivers of the process, and assesses the impact of values by which the leaders of Japan, Australia and the United States mutually connected. It explains the normative mechanisms which led to a security relationship that would grow to unprecedented levels of intimacy. The book highlights the goals and objectives of the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue, and further, explains why South Korea, a democracy and ally of the United States, is not added to the framework. Moreover, the book outlines the role of the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue as one step in the greater strategy of the three governments to establish a community of democratic states in the Asia-Pacific.

This book explores in-depth the increasingly critical trilateral security cooperation between the United States, Australia and Japan in the Asia-Pacific region.

This book explains the increasingly turbulent Sino–Japanese relations since the 2000s by innovatively investigating the formation mechanism of mutual misperception deeply rooted in China-Japan-U.S. trilateral structural dynamics. The political and security relationship has been increasingly deteriorating against the high interdependency between the world’s second and third largest economies. More ironically, both sides have also shown the intent and made efforts to improve bilateral ties. The author systematically conducts a focused comparison of the evolution of the Sino-Japanese mutual perceptions and policies toward one another during the past decade and a half. Empirically, Yun Zhang closely examines five case studies that provide insights to IR students and scholars and policy makers on how misperception and mistrust have formed, replicated, and intensified.

This book explains how minilateral strategies work and how this new diplomatic toolbox will reshape how countries do business with one another.

China’s rise is changing the dynamics of the international system. Middle Powers and the Rise of China is the first work to examine how the group of states referred to as “middle powers” are responding to China’s growing economic, diplomatic, and military power. States with capabilities immediately below those of great powers, middle powers still exercise influence far above most other states. Their role as significant trading partners and allies or adversaries in matters of regional security, nuclear proliferation, and global governance issues such as human rights and climate change are reshaping international politics. Contributors review middle-power relations with China in the cases of South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, South Africa, Turkey, and Brazil, addressing how these diverse nations are responding to a rising China, the impact of Chinese power on each, and whether these states are being attracted to China or deterred by its new power and assertiveness. Chapters also explore how much (or how little) China, and for comparison the US, value middle powers and examine whether or not middle powers can actually shape China’s behavior. By bringing a new analytic approach to a key issue in international politics, this unique treatment of emerging middle powers and the rise of China will interest scholars and students of international relations, security studies, China, and the diverse countries covered in the book.

Japan and South Korea are Western-style democracies with open-market economies committed to the rule of law. They are also U.S. allies. Yet despite their shared interests, shared values, and geographic proximity, divergent national identities have driven a wedge between them. Drawing on decades of expertise, Brad Glosserman and Scott A. Snyder investigate the roots of this split and its ongoing threat to the region and the world. Glosserman and Snyder isolate competing notions of national identity as the main obstacle to a productive partnership between Japan and South Korea. Through public opinion data, interviews, and years of observation, they show how fundamentally incompatible, rapidly changing conceptions of national identity in Japan and South Korea—and not struggles over power or structural issues—have complicated territorial claims and international policy. Despite changes in the governments of both countries and concerted efforts by leading political figures to encourage U.S.–ROK–Japan security cooperation, the Japan–South Korea relationship continues to be hobbled by history and its deep imprint on ideas of national identity. This book recommends bold, policy-oriented prescriptions for overcoming problems in Japan–South Korea relations and facilitating trilateral cooperation among these three Northeast Asian allies, recognizing the power of the public on issues of foreign policy, international relations, and the prospects for peace in Asia.