Convener(s): Professor Hugh Whittaker, Dr Natalia Doan and Dr Giulio Pugliese
Speaker(s): Professor Paul Midford, Director of the Japan Program at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Professor Wilhelm Vosse, International Christian University, and Professor Marie Söderberg, Director of the European Institute of Japanese Studies
These seminars will occur live and will not be recorded. Unauthorized recording is strictly prohibited.
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New Directions in Japan’s Security: Non-US Centric Evolution
Abstract
We discuss the findings of our new book New Directions in Japan’s Security: Non-U.S. Centric Evolution. Despite the strengthening of the US-Japan alliance since the end of the Cold War Japan has, almost unnoticed, been building security ties with other partners, in the process reducing the centrality and specialness of the US for Japan’s security. We discuss three dimensions in which this is happening and discuss the implications for Japan’s security policy and its relationship with the US going forward.
Bio
Paul Midford is Professor, and Director of the Japan Program, at the Norwegian University for Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim. He is author of Rethinking Japanese Public Opinion and Security: From Pacifism to Realism? (2011); co-edited with Wilhelm Vosse, Japan’s new security partnerships: Beyond the Security Alliance (2018); and Overcoming Isolationism: Japan’s Leadership in East Asian Security Multilateralism (2020).
Wilhelm Vosse is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan. His research interest focuses on Japanese foreign and security policy, EU-Japan security ties, and cyber diplomacy. Recent books include Japan’s New Security Partnerships (2018) and Governing Insecurity in Japan (2014).
Marie Söderberg is the Director of the European Institute of Japanese Studies and an adjunct professor of Stockholm School of Economics. She has published on Europe-Japan relations, Japanese influences in Asia, Japan-China, and Japan-North Korea and Japan South Korea relations. A central focus of her research is Japanese foreign aid policy. She is the senior editor of the Routledge book series East Asian Economics and Business Studies, and Chairperson of EJARN’s (European Japan Advanced Research Network) executive committee.
