A Study On Japan’s Grand Strategy Adjustment In The Post-cold War Era

Japan’s grand strategy behavior has caused extensive academicattention and brought a lot of confusion to scholars since the end of theCold War. In order to solve the grand strategy adjustment problems ofJapan in the post-Cold War era, this study tries to establish “structuralpressure-strategic culture” analysis framework based on neoclassicalrealism, which will mainly around the core issue of what adjustments ofJapan’s grand strategy have taken place, what are the most critical factorsaffect these adjustments and whether these adjustments are wise?The study consists of four chapters, plus an introduction andconclusion.The introduction advances the core issue which the study tries to solve,and expound the implications for the research, the research status, theselected variables, research methods and innovations. The keystone is tofind that what can be developed from existing research, and to explain thetheoretical basis of the study is neoclassical realism.The main task of the first chapter is to establish “structural pressure-strategic culture” analysis framework, which is used to explain theadjustments of Japan’s grand strategy. We believe that the structuralpressure plays the decisively shaping role on countries’ grand strategyadjustments but through the “filterable” interference of countries’ own strategic culture. And what’s more, we demonstrate the international systemcoordinate which Japan’s grand strategy is running in and Japan’s strategicculture.The main task of the second, third and forth chapters is to examineJapan’s grand strategy adjustments based on the changing structuralpressure Japan has been enduring in the Asia-Pacific international systemsince the end of the Cold War, and we divide three stages of theseadjustments. Each chapter corresponds to one stage, which makesprediction of Japan’s grand strategy adjustment from “structural pressure-strategic culture” analysis framework at first, then conducts empirical testby analyzing Japan’s awareness of the strategic environment, Japan’ssecurity policy adjustment to the other major powers in the Asia-Pacificinternational system and the military policy adjustment of its own.The conclusion part is a study summary of the above chapters, whichis also trying to predict the tendency of the future of Japan’s grand strategyand advance the countermeasure of China.Japan’s grand strategy had adjusted several times since the end of theCold War. After establishing the “Ordinary Country” strategic objective atthe beginning of the end of the Cold War, Japan has been working hard toachieve it. However, when judging from strategic means, Japan’s grandstrategy adjusted from following the United States in the Cold War tobuck-passing strategy with challenge ingredient at first, and then hadadjusted to follow the United States from1996to2006. Although it hadadjusted to buck-passing strategy for a short time from2006to2009,Japan’s grand strategy has been deepening to follow the United States from2010to the present.The most critical factors affects Japan’s grand strategy adjustmentsfrom the end of the Cold War are structural pressure and strategic culture.In the international system, structural pressure encourages countries to seekmore international power in accordance with their own strength to better survival prospect, a wise grand strategy of one country must act in the lightof the anticipation of the structural pressure so as to enhance the country’sinternational power most effectively. From the end of the Cold War to now,Japan has been working hard to advance its own international power, whichis in line with the structural pressure’s anticipation. However, on the issueof how to advance international power, Japan’s behavior is sometimesconsistent with but sometimes contrary to the structural pressure’santicipation, due to the interference of its own strategic culture.The analysis of the internal logic and law of Japan’s grand strategyevolution in the post-Cold War era helps us to more effectively graspJapan’s grand strategy trend and better formulate the foreign policy towardsJapan. Otherwise, the adjustment of Japan’s grand strategy in the post-ColdWar era is an example of the theoretical perspective of the neoclassicalrealism, which considers that the structural pressure plays a decisivelyshaping role on countries’ grand strategy adjustments, but in the short andmedium range period, countries may take behaviors deviate from or evencontrary to the prediction of the structural pressure which due to theinterference of domestic-related factors on the national political elite’scognize.Japan’s grand strategy adjustment in the post-Cold War era shows that,national political elite should act in accordance with the prediction of thestructural pressure in the formulation of grand strategy, and tries toovercome the negative interference of the strategic values and thoughtpatterns of strategic culture at the same time.