The Koizumi-Abe Revolution in Japanese Security Policy: Normative Transformation and Democratic Maturity

Since the turn of the twenty-first century we have seen Japan adopt a higher profile in international security, as well as a more assertive stance towards defence and security matters. Japan’s contributions in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, and its 2003 decision to develop ballistic missile defence systems in partnership with the United States, indicate that something fundamental is changing in the way Japan thinks about security. Taboos that have been untouchable to date such as nuclear armament for Japan, constitutional revision and collective self-defence have been broached so regularly that it has become routine to raise them (Pyle 2007: 366–8). As of 2011, Japanese security policy in the post-Cold War era appeared to have embarked on a new trajectory, overturning past practice, policy and norms in the process.