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

• Published in: Australian journal of international affairs 2013-02, Vol.67 (1), p.35-54
• Main Authors: Hook, Glenn D., Son, Key-Young
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alliances; Armed forces; Asia: Foreign relations; Attitudes; China (People's Republic); China: Foreign relations; Civilians; Cold War; constitutive norms; Defence policy; Disaster relief; Evolution; General Public; Globalization; Humanitarian aid; Humanitarianism; Identity; International aid; Internationalization; Japan; Japan: Defences; Japan: Foreign relations; Law; Military deployment; National identity; National security; North Korea; Peace; Peacekeeping operations; Peoples Republic of China; Post Cold War Period; Power; Security; Self-defense; September 11th 2001; South Korea; state identities; Threats; War
• ISSN: 1035-7718; 1465-332X
• DOI: 10.1080/10357718.2013.748274

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.