Japan S Un Certain Future Permanent Membership On The United Nations Security Council A Delphi Study

Diploma Thesis from the year 2004 in the subject Politics - International Politics - Topic: International Organisations, grade: Distinction, University of Vienna, language: English, abstract: 1. Introduction “We, the Japanese people, [...] desire to occupy an honored place in an international society striving for the preservation of peace, and the banishment of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance for all time from the earth. [...] We [...] pledge our national honor to accomplish these high ideals and purposes with all our resources.” (cit. in Hook et al. 2001:466) This excerpt from the Preamble to Japan’s Constitution that came into effect from 3. May 1947 clearly reflects Japan’s desire to regain a respectable position within the international arena. Defeated in battle and under allied occupation, it seemed as if Japan “would never again be able to play a major role on the world stage” (Linhart 1996:404). More than half a century later, circumstances have changed dramatically: not only has Japan recovered from its wartime devastation, it has also become a major economic power and risen to the status of key international player. Has Japan, in that sense, attained its goal and acquired an “honored place” in international society, as is stated in the Preamble to its Constitution? There are several means by which to assess Japan’s place on an international stage. With regard to the above question, however, the United Nations Security Council lends itself to being a foremost measure. This can be ascribed to three rationales: firstly, the Security Council can be argued as epitomising what might indeed be called an “honored place” in international society. Not only is a permanent Security Council seat highly elitist, it is also a “scarce international resource” (Hurd, cit. in Drifte 2000:95) that enhances a country’s prestige and confers it immense status. Secondly, the Security Council is endowed with the “primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security” (UN Charter, Art. 24); a function, that reveals remarkable parallels with the introductory quote which refers to an “international society striving for the preservation of peace”. Thirdly, it is overtly known, at least since the early 1990s, that Japan is pursuing permanent membership and that it has certainly tried to accomplish this “high ideal”, if not openly (“with all its resources”), then at least indirectly, from as early as the late 1960s onwards. (Drifte 2000:50)

Japan has consistently been pursuing the goal of a permanent UN Security Council seat for 30 years. The book investigates the motives for this ambition, and how it has been pursued domestically and internationally. It is therefore a study of the inner workings of the Japanese Foreign Ministry as well as of the country's underdeveloped multinational diplomacy.

Japan has consistently been pursuing the goal of a permanent UN Security Council seat for 30 years. This book investigates the motives for this ambition, and how it has been pursued domestically and internationally. It is therefore a study of the interior workings of the Japanese Foreign Ministry as well as of the country's underdeveloped multilateral diplomacy.

Japanese foreign policy in international political affairs, particularly after the Second World War, was criticized as relying solely on bilateralism and dismissed as blindly emulating American foreign policy. This book examines Japanese multilateralism from the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 to its latest bid for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council. At the threshold of the twenty-first century, the author asserts that Japan can play a more proactive role in the United Nations and in the Asia-Pacific through its cooperative security approach with emphasis on prevention of conflicts.

"For the past four decades, the United Nations has played a significant peacekeeping role based on the consent of the warring parties in Cyprus, the Golan Heights, the Congo, and other flashpoints of conflict. But the UN role in maintaining world order has been redefined and broadened in recent years to embrace peace-enforcement efforts with or without the consent of the antagonists, often in combination with traditional peacekeeping." "This dramatic change has provoked growing controversy both in the United States, hitherto the largest financial supporter of UN peacekeeping, and in Japan, where advocates of a larger Japanese global role are promoting expanded Japanese participation in UN peacekeeping missions." "UN Peacekeeping: Japanese and American Perspectives is the product of a research project co-sponsored by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington and the Research Institute for Peace and Security in Tokyo. Eight American and Japanese specialists present contrasting perspectives on such issues as the criteria that should govern UN intervention in future conflicts; the desirability and feasibility of combining peacekeeping and peace enforcement; the limitations imposed by international law on UN intervention; the record of UN intervention in key arenas of conflict, including Cambodia, where Japan has played a major role; domestic attitudes toward UN peacekeeping in both countries; and the potential for Japanese-American cooperation in UN peacemaking, peacekeeping, and peace enforcement."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject 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.