Japan’s Changing Defense Policy and Its Implications for National Security

Japan's Changing Defense Policy and Its Implications for National Security

Shuhei Kurizaki - Associate Professor, School of Political Science and Economics, Waseda University

Friday, February 1, 2019 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm
Room 241, Rosenkranz Hall See map
115 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT 06511

Japan’s security policy is undergoing a significant change from its traditional postwar “pacifist” defense posture. At the heart of the recent changes is the 2015 legislation, which allows for exercising the right of collective self-defense and hence expanding the permissible roles for the Japanese Self-Defense Forces. In his lecture, Professor Kurizaki examines the Japanese government’s claim that these changes are vital to support allied deterrence of threats against Japan, and necessary to enhance Japan’s security in a region of shifting power. Specifically, he extends game-theoretic models of deterrence and alliances to explore the questions of whether expanded military role for Japan will (1) enhance deterrence within the context of the U.S.-Japan alliance, (2) strengthen U.S. commitments to Japan’s security, and (3) exacerbate (or mitigate) the Sino-Japanese security dilemma. From these equilibrium analyses, the lecture will draw implications for promises and challenges of Japan’s new security policy.


Shuhei Kurizaki (PhD, UCLA) is an associate professor in the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University. Before joining the faculty at Waseda, he was a pre-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Olin Institute for Strategic Studies and assistant professor at Texas A&M University. His work has appeared in American Political Science Review and International Organization. His current research develops and tests formal models to explain how and when diplomacy works in international conflict.

Sponsored by The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership
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