The U.S.-Japan Security Alliance: Why It Matters and How to Strengthen It

For more than three decades, the multifaceted alliance between the United States and Japan has contributed significantly to the security of Japan and the maintenance of peace and security in the Far East. With the end of the Cold War, new sources of potential threats have arisen at a time when Japan's national self-confidence has been shaken by nearly a decade of economic stagnation, a highly fluid political situation, and an inadequate institutional structure for crisis management and strategy formulation. Osius examines how Japan is trying to redefine its identity from a nation whose constitution renounces war as a sovereign right to a normal country involved in United Nations peacekeeping operations and regional military relationships. In his initial chapters, Osius focuses on the purpose of the security alliance and argues that U.S.-Japanese interests coincide enough not only to sustain the alliance, but also to warrant strengthening and promoting it. He then examines the challenges and opportunities for an enhanced alliance over the next decade. Together, he maintains, the United States and Japan can address broadly defined security concerns, such as energy supply, weapons of mass destruction proliferation, transborder crime, piracy, and illegal narcotics, as well as environmental issues, infectious disease, economic development, and humanitarian and disaster relief. However, if it is to thrive, the U.S.-Japan alliance must remain dynamic rather than static and must be nurtured, sustained, and enhanced by both parties. An important analysis for policy makers, scholars, and students of U.S.-Japanese political and military relations and Asian Studies in general.