Japan's Middle East security policy : theory and cases / Yukiko Miyagi.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Miyagi, Yukiko.

Series:

Sheffield Centre for Japanese Studies/Routledge series

Sheffield Centre for Japanese studies/Routledge series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

National security.

International relations.

Japan--Foreign relations--Middle East.

Japan.

Middle East--Foreign relations--Japan.

Middle East.

National security--Japan--Case studies.

Genre:

Case studies.

Physical Description:

xvi, 208 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Routledge, 2008.

Summary:

This study examines how Japanese policy toward Middle East security issues is shaped by the need to both maintain Japan's security alliance with the US and its oil relationship with states in the Middle East. Yukiko Miyagi introduces the historic roots of Japan's policy, and then focuses on the major contemporary cases - the Iraq War, the Iranian nuclear crisis, and the Arab-Israeli conflict - to expose and explain how clashing interests and dilemmas were negotiated to arrive at policy outcomes.

The author also sheds light on the utility of mainstream International Relations theories for understanding Japan's behaviour. How do we understand the policy of a self-declared 'anti-militarist' state forced to operate in a realist world and for whom energy supplies are a matter of vital national security? This study shows how neither realism nor its rivals, such as constructivism, can wholly explain Japan's behaviour and suggests a theoretical framework for doing so.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Aims, debates, and theoretical framework 1

The Middle East in Japan's security policy 1

Objectives of the study 2

The literature and theoretical debates 3

Framework of analysis 22

2 Japan's policy toward Middle East security issues: An overview 34

Classifying Japanese policy 34

Japanese diplomacy in the Middle East 36

Deploying economic policy instruments 42

The military dimension 50

The pattern of Japan's Middle East policy 53

3 Policy determinants and the policy-making process 59

International structural determinants 59

Normative determinants 65

The policy-making process 71

4 The Iraq War 87

The significance of the case 87

Historical relations with Iraq: Japan between oil interests and US pressures 88

Japan's approach to the Iraq War 89

The determinants of Japanese policy in the Iraq War 99

5 The Iranian nuclear crisis 127

The significance of the case 127

Japan's historic orientation toward Iran 128

Japanese policy in the Iranian nuclear crisis 130

Conclusion: Implications of the Iranian case 148

6 Syria under US hostility 156

The significance of the case 156

The evolution of Japan's policy toward Syria 157

The determinants of Japanese policy toward Syria under US hostility 158

Conclusion: Implications of the Syrian case 170

7 Conclusion: Findings and implications 176

Findings of the study 176

Contribution of the study 183.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 187-201) and index.

ISBN:

9780415458788

0415458781

9780203931158

0203931157

OCLC:

213133340