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In this paper, I would like to examine his policy stance and analyze if his actions marks
watershed for postwar Japan. First, I would like to see how Koizumi’s efforts are viewed by
contending approaches. Secondly, despite Koizumi’s efforts, I would like to describe the
obstacles ahead. Finally, I would like to analyze whether Prime Minister Koizumi could
depart from culturally bounded Japanese foreign policy.
II.
Theoretical vs. Japanese Perspectives on Koizumi’s Efforts
Prime Minister Koizumi has been attracting attention concerning his security policies
from both American and Japanese academia. While American scholars try to put Koizumi’s
policies into perspective through the Realists and the Constructivists paradigm, Japan
scholars had a tendency to see these changes in security policies if they indicate the
departure from Article 9 of the Constitution, or the Yoshida Doctrine, Japan’s postwar
foreign policy sextant.
In the article titled “Pacifism or Passing the Buck? Testing Theories of Japanese Security
Policy,” Jennifer M. Lind tries to “test two specific explanations [Constructivism and
Realism] for Japanese security policy since World War II, with the goal of building a better
foundation for predictions about future Japanese policy.”
3
By tracing Japanese security
policy using the Constructivists’ and the Realists’ perspective, she concludes her analysis
with implications for international relations theory and for U.S. foreign policy; “The bottom
line is that international relations scholars do not have well-developed theories of foreign
3
Jennifer M. Lind, “Pacifism or Passing the Buck? Testing Theories of Japanese Foreign
Policy,”
International Security
, Vol. 29, No. 1(Summer 2004), p. 94.
Convention