Watch this Space: 'Collective Self-defense,' Constitutional Reinterpretation, and Japan's Security Policy

Pacific Forum CSIS

Note

This policy brief appeared in The National Interest on June 27, 2014 as "Japan's Article 9 Challenge."

Throughout the postwar period, the Government of Japan's (GOJ) definition and interpretation of collective self-defense and Article 9 of Japan's constitution have played a crucial role in how its leaders develop and employ military power. This issue also has had significant implications for its political and security relationship with the United States.

Japan has arguably been alone among sovereign states in self-imposing a ban on exercise of the UN-sanctioned right of "collective self-defense," despite recognizing that it too possesses this right. The crucial factor has been the government's official interpretation of Article 9 of the constitution, which basically renounces war as Japan's sovereign right and forbids it from threatening or using force to settle international disputes....

Download the entire policy brief here: http://csis.org/publication/pacnet-48-watch-space-collective-self-defense-constitutional-reinterpretation-and-japans