Middle Power, Civilian Power, or New Power?: Comparing Underlying Factors of the Security Policy in Japan and Germany

Japan and Germany, two countries with very similar constraints concerningtheir defense and security policy, have often been described as middle poweror civilian powers. While Germany has began to increase its international rolefirst in Europe and later in out-of-area missions, Japan seems to be somehowbehind Germany and is often described as in the process of “normalization”.However, what does “normalization” mean for Japan? Under Prime MinisterKoizumi, cooperation with the US was intensified and broadened, Japan becamea partner in the “coalition of the willing” and agreed to co-develop and employa missile defense system. Since 2001, it seemed that even the widely acceptedbelief in the general public support for anti-militarist values was weakening,while support to abandon article 9 of the constitution was rising. This articleargues that Japan, despite some differences in terms of its alliance obligationsas well as the structure and practice of its political system, has still manycommonalities with Germany. While Germany has relatively quickly becomemore internationally engaged and has gradually abandoned its overly strongunwillingness to send troops abroad after the end of the Cold War, Japan hastaken longer and is still at the stage Germany might have been in the mid 1990s,hence before the Kosovo War. For Japan, public support for its armed forces andpride about its achievements over the last ten to fifteen years might indicate anincreased willingness to play a more active international role, without givingup its still strong preference for non-military and diplomatic solutions in bothGermany and Japan. Rather than calling them “normal” states, it might be betterto call them new powers

The domestic environmental movement in contemporary Japan : structure, activities, problems, and its significance for the broadening of political participation

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An International Study of Attitudes and Global Engagement, 2004

This study reports the findings of a mail survey of 970 American and 581 Japanese citizens in late 2004 and early 2005. The questions were aimed at measuring the respondents’ attitudes toward global issues, knowledge of global issues, global experiences, perceptions of risk and threat at the global level, and media use, as well as their demographic characteristics. The overall purpose of the survey was to better understand how citizens in both the United States and Japan think about their countries’ roles in the world and how they think about global issues. The data allow researchers to analyze results from two similar surveys completed by citizens in the United States and Japan. Most variables in this dataset contain the responses of both the U.S. and Japanese citizens, allowing for comparative analysis