The 'pacifist principle' in the Italian and Japanese constitutions in the wake of the war in Ukraine Giovanni Cavaggion, editor

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cavaggion, Giovanni

Contributor:

Cavaggion, Giovanni, editor.

Series:

Law and Criminology Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Renunciation of war--Italy.

Renunciation of war.

Renunciation of war--Japan.

Russo-Ukrainian War, 2014-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cham Springer [2026]

Summary:

The book explores the evolution of the debate on the scope and meaning of the constitutional "pacifist principles" (or "pacifist clauses") in Italy (article 11 of the Italian Constitution) and Japan (article 9 of the Japanese Constitution) generated by the war in Ukraine. The "pacifist principle" is a fundamental principle of both the Italian and Japanese Constitutions. Article 11 of the Constitution of Italy provides that "Italy rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means for the settlement of international disputes". Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan provides that "Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes". The actual scope of these provisions has historically been the object of a heated legal and political debate in the Italian and Japanese societies alike. It is not controversial that the "pacifist clauses" allow (and even oblige) Italy and Japan to recourse to "war" as a means of self-defence of last resort, to ensure the survival of the democratic constitutional system when faced with an existential threat (a "war" of invasion/annexation). Scholars, however, disagree on whether (and to what extent) these provisions allow Italy and Japan to provide aid to a third Country engaged in a war of their own. The book explores this dilemma from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on legal, historical, philosophical, and comparative approaches

Contents:

1. Introduction

ITALY

2. The 'Pacifist Principle' and the 'Use of Force' in the Italian Constitution

3. From "Vapid Pacifism" to "Aggressive Pacifism". Themes, Languages, Organisational Forms of Pacifist Culture from the Post-War Period to the End of the Short Century

4. The Pacifist Principles of Conscientious Objection

5. Italian Scientists for Nuclear Arms Control in the Cold War: A Concise Testimony

6. The Tension of the Italian Constitutional Pacifist Principle in the Wake of the War in Ukraine

JAPAN

7. Six Faces of Article 9: Japan's Constitutional Pacifism and the World Order

8. E. H. Norman, C. L. Kades and the "Feudal Remnants" in Postwar Japan

9. Whither Pacifism in Cold War Japan? An Interpretive Path (1947-1990)

10. Japanese Rearmament and the Constitution: A Misalignment

11. The "Pacifist Integralism" Myth: Japan's Evolving National Security Approach Since the 1992 Peacekeeping Law and the Japan Socialist Party's Narrative and Political Shift

12. The Tragic Demise of Japan's Constitutional War Constraints

THE COMPARATIVE AND TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE

13. The Constitutions of Japan, Italy and Germany Reject War: and the Current Non-Wars?

14. Umberto Campagnolo, the European Society of Culture and the Atomic Threat: A Peace Proposal from Intellectuals during the Cold War

15. War and Peace in Poland's Constitutional Framework: Past and Present

16. The Pacifist Principle in Germany: Between Established Constitutional Constants and Unprecedented Military Expansionism

17. Pacifist Clauses, Euro-Atlantic Integration Clauses and Neutrality in the Constitutions of the Former Soviet Republics of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova

THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE

18. Contingent or Principled? On the Philosophical Distinctiveness of Pacifism

19. Political Philosophy and the Problem of War: Mapping the Battlefield

20. Democracies at Peace (or at War)? The Rise and Fall of the Democratic Peace Theory

Notes:

Online resource; title from PDF title page (SpringerLink, viewed June 8, 2026)

ISBN:

9783032231086

3032231086

OCLC:

1594249152

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license