On The Changing Mechanism Of Japanese Defense Policy

Since the 1990 s,Japan’s defense policy has undergone a relatively obvious adjustment.This paper holds that although the balance of power in East Asia has changed and Japan’s Allies have put pressure on Japan to change its defense policy,the specific mechanism of Japan’s defense policy cannot be pointed out from the perspective of system structure and external pressure alone.Neoclassical realism advocates the combination of the international system and domestic politics,and believes that the system factors affect the final foreign policy of a country through affecting the relevant variables of domestic politics.Based on this theoretical perspective and problem awareness,this paper attempts to analyze the influence of the changes of Japanese party politics on Japanese defense policy from the perspective of the structural and historical changes of domestic party politics by taking the political parties in Japanese politics as the entry point and the defense policy documents released by Japanese officials as the basis.Looking at the changes of Japanese party politics from the history after World War II,the post-war Japan formed the "five-five-year system" of "preserving and opposing reform" in 1955,during which the defense policy was based on the principle of "exclusively defending defense".After the end of the Cold War,the "Five-Five Year system" also came to an end.Since then,the following changes have taken place in party politics: First,the progressive forces have declined,and the party politics have become more conservative in general;Second,the electoral system changes from the middle electoral district system to the parallel election system of small electoral districts and proportional representation districts.At last,the reform of provincial offices was carried out,simplifying and reconstructing the original provincial offices.Analyzing the above historical phenomena,we can see that such changes have brought about changes in national policy issues,the distribution of national power,and the mechanism of policy making.First,the specific manifestations are in the widespread discussion of defense policy,the convergence of positions and attitudes among political parties,and the convergence of policies of various political parties to the Liberal Democratic Party.Secondly,this change in political parties has also changed the public’s attitude towards the SDF,so the discussion on defense issues has moved from pluralism to monism.Finally,changes to the electoral system have given the ruling coalition more seats in parliament,making it easier to pass government proposals.Since the change of government in 2009,the Democratic Party has adopted a largely consistent defense policy.As a result of the reform of provincial departments,the Tibetan provinces were split up,the coordination ability within the bureaucracy was weakened,and the Prime minister and cabinet occupied a more dominant position in policy making,giving them the opportunity to promote the change of defense policy.Therefore,Japan’s original defense policy based on "exclusive defense" has gradually changed,and its defense policy has become more and more extroverted.The Defense Agency has been upgraded to the Ministry of Defense,the Self-Defense Forces have strengthened their own armaments,and the scope of their activities and the level of international cooperation have increased.By analyzing this historical process and its political impact,this paper shows the changes of national policy issues,the distribution of national power and the policy making mechanism under the changes of Japanese party politics,and on this basis demonstrates the closely related defense policy choices of Japan.