Hegemony And The Us Japan Alliance

It is widely recognised that the increasing importance of the US‒Japan alliance is strongly linked to emerging threats in the Asia Pacific, with China’s rise and the ambitions of North Korea having brought the two allies closer together. This book, however, seeks to question whether these factors are indeed the sole determinants of this enduring alliance. A pioneering study conducted through the lens of neo-Gramscianism, this book unravels the intricate political dynamism involved in the US‒Japan alliance. It provides an innovative attempt to link the concept of alliances to hegemony and thus examines Japan’s relationship to US dominance in the region. Building on existing scholarship, it also seeks to examine how Japan’s continuing dependence on the US, and the burden it places of citizens living near US military bases, may affect the durability of the alliance in the post-Cold War era. As such, this book presents an alternative theoretical tool in the field of international relations to analyse the political nature of the alliance, as well as US hegemony in the region. This book will be useful to students and scholars of Japanese Politics and foreign policymaking, as well as International Relations and Security Studies more generally.

Japan's use of Soft power in its international politics is as yet understudied. Soft power presents as many challenges as promises. This book explores the way Japan uses soft power in its relationship with the US, its Asian neighbours and Europe and aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of soft power in international relations. Hard power, on the other hand, is more tangible and has received far greater scholarly scrutiny than soft power. However, as this collection makes clear, hard power has its limitations and counterproductive consequences as an instrument of policy. This book makes it clear that hard power alone will not provide Japan with the peace and security it desires. A smart balancing or mixture of hard and soft power is required. Is Japan up to this challenge? While this book cannot give a definitive answer to this question, the excellent line-up of contributors present their best analyses of the effectiveness of Japan's current attempt at balancing the two components of national power in meeting its bilateral and multilateral security challenges. The US-Japan Alliance is suitable for upper undergraduates, postgraduates and academics in International Politics, Political Science, Security studies and Japanese studies. Winner of The Masayoshi Ohira Memorial Special Prize, 2011.

Postwar Japan has consistently maintained close cooperation with the United States over the last four decades over such major issues as Japan's recognition of China, their peace treaties, and, more recently, Japan's resumption of the yen loan to China suspended in the wake of the Tiananmen incident. This has been in spite of Japan's well-known conflict of interests in China with the United States. Japan's cooperation with the United States sheds new light on some important questions which are central to current debates about the shape of the new world order in general, and America's world role in particular, in the post-Cold War era. What has been the role of American power in maintaining Japan's cooperation? What have been the bases of American hegemony in the post-war world? How has American hegemony changed over the years? Qingxin K. Wang addresses and illuminates these important questions through a detailed and provocative study of Japan's relations with the United States over China policy in the last four decades.

The US, China, and Japan form a 'troubled triangle,' with each country negotiating its foreign policy toward the other two in response to economic and security pressures that operate as an interrelated duality. Written by international relations experts, this book examines how the three countries respond to this set of pressures and to each other.

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Region: Other States, grade: 72% - First Class Honours, University of Greenwich, language: English, abstract: This paper argues that because of the new reality of the twenty-first century where the United States is beginning to decline, China is rising and North Korea has acquired nuclear capabilities, Japan may need to rethink its foreign and security policy which are deeply anchored on its alliance with Washington. In the light of these new challenges, this paper considers potential problems and constrains in Tokyo's current strategy and suggests it may not be in Japan's best interest to continue pursuing them. Finally, alternatives to Japan's security policy are considered and this paper concludes that no single alternative could replace the U.S.-Japan alliance as an effective security policy in the foreseeable future. Rather, all the alternatives pursued together would potentially lead to an efficacious option, consequently providing Japan's foreign policy with greater independence from the United States.

Over the last decade, the United States' position as the world's most powerful state has appeared increasingly unstable. The US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, non-traditional security threats, global economic instability, the apparent spread of authoritarianism and illiberal politics, together with the rise of emerging powers from the Global South have led many to predict the end of Western dominance on the global stage. This book brings together scholars from international relations, economics, history, sociology and area studies to debate the future of US leadership in the international system. The book analyses the past, present and future of US hegemony in key regions in the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Middle East, Europe and Africa – while also examining the dynamic interactions of US hegemony with other established, rising and re-emerging powers such as Russia, China, Japan, India, Turkey and South Africa. American Hegemony and the Rise of Emerging Powers explores how changes in the patterns of cooperation and conflict among states, regional actors and transnational non-state actors have affected the rise of emerging global powers and the suggested decline of US leadership. Scholars, students and policy practitioners who are interested in the future of the US-led international system, the rise of emerging powers from the Global South and related global policy challenges will find this multidisciplinary volume an invaluable guide to the shifting position of American hegemony.