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CJS Research Webinar: Defenders of Japan: The Post-Imperial Armed Forces, 1946-2016-A History

Speakers:
Dr Garren Mulloy (Daito Bunka University)

SISJAC, 64 The Close, Norwich, NR1 4DH and online via zoom.

Please note: This seminar will be held in-person and streamed online - please select how you would like to attend in the options below. All attendees will be sent a Zoom link to the meeting upon registration.

About the Talk:
Japan’s post-war armed forces are a paradox, both embarrassing remnants of the past and reliable guarantors of national, regional, and human security. In his book, Defenders of Japan, Garren Mulloy charts the development of Japan’s first post-imperial forces and the succeeding Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF), as both unorthodox military institutions and servants of a seemingly pacifist civil society. The talk investigates how the Forces developed during the Cold War, adapted to post-Cold War events, their contributions to Japanese and global security and possible reconfiguration for Japan’s future security needs. This explores the characteristics and contradictions of Japanese policy within a society that while seemingly loyal to pacifism and the peace constitution not only tolerated the JSDF but grew to respect the Forces for their public service.
Though alliance with the United States remains the core of Japanese security strategy, partnerships and international overtures shaped the Forces’ place in Abe Shinzo’s vision of ‘proactive contributions to peace’ in a strategic environment of increasing risk of regional conflict. Defenders of Japan examines the internal structures and cultures of the Forces and deconstructs how the JSDF have adapted and will continue to adapt within domestic norms, caught between unresolved legacies of Japan’s imperial past and a dynamically shifting balance of regional and global power.

Mar 16, 2023 01:00 PM in London