Djibouti and beyond: Japan’s first post-war overseas base and the recalibration of risk in securing enhanced military capabilities

Mason, Ra ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4950-9516 (2018) Djibouti and beyond: Japan’s first post-war overseas base and the recalibration of risk in securing enhanced military capabilities. Asian Security, 14 (3). pp. 339-357. ISSN 1555-2764

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Abstract

Having passed successive legislation in the past two decades to expand its use of the Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF), Japan has emerged from its post-war ‘pacifist’ shackles to assume a range of security roles that are typically associated with so-called ‘normal nations’. This article addresses how these have been crystallized in the form of an indefinitely-termed overseas base on the Horn of Africa, in Djibouti. Careful examination of pertaining Diet minutes, media discourse and government ministry papers suggests that the risks identified with this facility’s realization and status have been fundamentally recalibrated, allowing its presence and operational diversification to go largely unnoticed and unopposed – both domestically and overseas – despite representing a seemingly radical departure from common sense interpretations of Japan’s antimilitarist constitution.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	djibouti,institutional change,jsdf,risk recalibration,security policy
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Political, Social and International Studies Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Centre for Japanese Studies
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	14 Sep 2017 05:05
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:46
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/64858
DOI:	10.1080/14799855.2017.1355303

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