Transposition in Japanese state identities: overseas troop dispatches and the emergence of a humanitarian power?

Abstract

This article aims to illustrate the trajectory of Japan's security identity transposition. As one of the catalysts in identity transposition, it focuses on the constitutive roles of norms regulating Japan's overseas dispatches of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF). Whilst keeping the identities of ‘a peace state’ and ‘a civilian power’, the authors argue that Japan has crafted a new security identity after the end of the cold war and the 9/11 terrorist attacks—namely, ‘an international humanitarian power’. As evidence of this transposition, the authors illustrate a dramatic increase in the number of overseas SDF dispatches on humanitarian missions, and the shift of domestic and foreign responses to it. The authors note that Japan has been on the road to remilitarisation and internationalisation during the past four decades through the enactments of laws for overseas SDF dispatches, the general public's shift of attitude on the SDF's roles, the evolution of the alliance in a more operational direction, and the creation of threats from North Korea and China. Lastly, the authors argue that there is still a long way to go before Japan emerges as a normal state because of the presence of many domestic and structural barriers, especially multiple identities defining the Japanese state.

Keywords:

• constitutive norms
• Japan
• state identities

Notes

1. The authors acknowledge the support of the United Kingdom's Economic and Social Research Council's New Security Challenges Programme, reference RES-228-25-0023. This work was also supported by the Korea Research Foundation Grant funded by the Korean government (MEST) (KRF-2008-362-A00001).

2. See OhmyNews at http://www.ohmynews.com and Seoprise at http://www.seoprise.com.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Glenn D. Hook

Glenn D. Hook is the Toshiba International Foundation Anniversary Research Professor in the School of East Asian Studies and Director of the National Institute of Japanese Studies at the University of Sheffield, UK. His areas of research include Japanese international relations, security and risk in East Asia. His recent publications include: Global Governance and Japan: The Institutional Architecture (co-editor; Routledge, 2007), Decoding Boundaries in Contemporary Japan: The Koizumi Administration and Beyond (editor; Routledge, 2011) and Japan's International Relations: Politics, Economics and Security (co-author; Routledge, 2011). His latest article is ‘Recalibrating Risk and Governing the Japanese Population: Crossing Borders and the Role of the State’ (Critical Asian Studies, 2012)

Key-Young Son

Key-young Son is Humanities Korea (HK) Research Professor in the Asiatic Research Institute at Korea University, Seoul. His areas of research include East Asian politics and constructivist theories. He received his PhD from the University of Sheffield, UK, and served as a Lecturer in Korean Studies at the university's School of East Asian Studies. His recent publications include: South Korean Engagement Policies and North Korea: Identities, Norms and the Sunshine Policy (Routledge, 2006), ‘Entrenching “Identity Norms” of Tolerance and Engagement: Lessons from Rapprochement between North and South Korea’ (Review of International Studies, 2007) and ‘From a Garrison State to a Humanitarian Power? Security Identities, Constitutive Norms and South Korea's Overseas Troop Dispatches' (Korean Journal of Defense Analysis, 2011)