Research project
The New Geography of Danger: Japan’s Shifting Role in Regional and Global Security
In 2017, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg delivered a speech in Tokyo announcing that the ‘geography of danger’ had shifted to include increasingly global and hybrid security threats that would demand an integrated response and cooperation between Europe and Asia. Today, as the severity of regional security in Asia continues to escalate and concerns over flashpoints grow, the pace and breadth of initiatives to increase both hard and economic security are accelerating. Central to this response is Japan’s shifting role in regional and global security.
This research project addresses three interlinked issues: (1) Japan’s national assessments of longstanding and emerging security threats, (2) Japan’s domestic balancing strategy to counter these threats, including innovation and acquisition of new capabilities, and (3) Japan’s external balancing behavior, including bilateral (e.g. US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia) and multilateral (i.e. NATO, EU, US-JP-ROK) defence cooperation. The project considers the implications of these shifts for Norway and, in particular, the possibilities presented by the convergence of the NATO multilateral security framework with the US alliance system in Asia.
Associate Professor Matthew K. Brummer at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies (GRIPS) in Tokyo, Japan is an external participant of the project.
This project is funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Defence.
Project Manager
Participants
Articles
New publications
Networked defense in the Indo-Pacific: Deepening security and defense relations between Australia and Japan and the role of Norway
The Indo-Pacific security architecture is developing into a more networked constellation involving a combination of overlapping bilateral, trilateral, minilateral and multilateral arrangements. Deepening defense cooperation between Japan and Australia parallels Europe and Norway’s heightened engagement and presence in the Indo-Pacific region. Norway’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific involves gaining deeper insight into a region of increasing strategic importance and the opportunity to promote its own defense industry. This research was supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Defence, through the project ‘Japan’s Shifting Role in Regional Defence and Global Security’.
Japan and Strategic Connectivity: Policies, Partners, and Possibilities
This report analyses the increasingly important role of infrastructure development and connectivity as a central arena of global geopolitical competition, particularly focusing on Japan’s connectivity policy under the banner of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific. The core aim of this report is to explore how Japan seeks to utilise strategic connectivity, specifically through its multi-layered approach, as a pivotal geopolitical instrument to project influence and promote a rules-based order, amidst rising competition with China. The report offers ten actionable policy recommendations, in particular, for the European Union.
Not What to Have, but How to Have It: Japan’s Debate on Acquiring Counterstrike Capabilities 2016–2023
As part of its historic defense buildup, Japan is incorporating counterstrike capabilities in its defense posture. While previous administrations were reluctant to pursue such capabilities, during the second Abe administration (2012–2020) the Liberal Democratic Party-Kōmeitō coalition eventually deemed them necessary for Japan’s self-defense. However, the belief that conducting counterstrikes is within the boundaries of Japan’s constitution and exclusively defense-oriented policy is contested. In this article, we study the parliamentary debate on acquiring counterstrike capabilities and examine how Japanese politicians discuss the parameters of the use of this controversial military instrument. Based on a content analysis of parliamentary transcripts, we find that three topics in particular are central to the debate on counterstrike capabilities: (1) the defense of Taiwan, (2) the role of the US in Japan’s defense and interoperability, and (3) the impact of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Although the opposition and ruling parties differ in their positions on the parameters for conducting counterstrikes, such an acquisition is no longer politically unsustainable. As such, the parliamentary debate is increasingly about the use and implementation of counterstrikes rather than their existence at all.