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Paul MIDFORD, Japan’s Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century, Social Science Japan Journal, Volume 24, Issue 2, Summer 2021, Pages 401–403, https://doi.org/10.1093/ssjj/jyab002
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Extract
Andrew Oros has written a meticulous and yet sweeping overview of Japan’s security policy and how it has changed since the end of the Cold War, especially during the second Abe administration that came to office in late 2012. This very well-written book makes a major contribution to our understanding of Japanese security politics, especially concerning the debate about whether Japan is re-emerging as a ‘normal’ military power. This wide-ranging study focuses on the dynamics of Japan’s security policy, with chapters covering changes from the 1990s until 2006; Japan’s relative decline in Asia, especially vis-à-vis China, since 2006; domestic power transitions between 2006 and 2012, especially the Democratic Party of Japan’s rise to power, three-plus years in office, and subsequent fall; the ‘New Conservative Mainstream’ and security policies under Prime Minister Abe Shinzō during the first four years of his second term; and a concluding chapter looking at the ‘next steps’ in Japan’s security renaissance.
