Donnerstag, 04. April 2019, 18:30 - 20:00 iCal

Security Threats, Militarization

and Democratic Accountability: The Use of Japanese Military Force

Eyal Ben-Ari (Kinneret Academic College, Israel)

 

Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften - Japanologie, Seminarraum JAP 1
Spitalgasse 2, UniversitätsCampus Hof 2, Eingang 2.4, 1090 Wien

Vortrag


An examination of the relations between security threats, militarization and democratic accountability in Japan entails to questions posed by Japan’s particular historical context in which contemporary militarization is still problematic. The legacy of World War Two even now implies an anti-military ethos and suspicions about antidemocratic forces seeking to exploit security issues to remilitarize the country. Yet despite formal limitations, Japan has a full-fledged military comprised of three services, a full complement of advanced military technology, the requisite organizational structure and training and has one of the world’s five largest military budgets. I argue first, that in the post-war period Ja-pan’s governments have consistently worked towards legitimizing the very existence of the country’s Self-Defense Forces and their potential and actual deployment. Second, I contend that this develop-ment has taken place within broad parameters of democratic accountability.

Eyal Ben-Ari is research fellow at the Center for Society, Security and Peace at Kinneret Academic College (Israel). He has carried out research on early childhood education in Japan, the militaries of the industrial democracies and the Japan Self-Defense Forces.

 


Veranstalter

Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften/Japanologie und AAJ (Akademischer Arbeitskreis Japan)


Kontakt

Mag. Angela Kramer
Universität Wien
Institut für Ostasienwissenschaften - Japanologie
4277-43801
angela.kramer@univie.ac.at