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both nations place international organizations security alliance is the only bilateral military
and their policies at the core of their own alliance.
national security policies. The main mission The Gulf War was a turning point from the
of the German military during the Cold War self-imposed exclusion from international
was area-specific: to contribute to the peacekeeping for Japan. In 1990, the original
common defense of NATO. The German UN Peace Cooperation Bill did not pass the
armed forces were not authorized to partici- Japanese Diet because a majority of lawmakers
pate in out-of-area operations. Fleckenstein felt that sending JSDF troops overseas was a
(2000: 86) reports that with the end of the violation of the Constitution and would
Cold War in Europe, the mission of the not receive public support. Instead, the
Bundeswehr has undergone a fundamental Japanese government made a 13 billion
change, and that while the defense of Germany dollar contribution to the Gulf War coalition.
and fulfillment of alliance obligations remain This ‘checkbook diplomacy’ was criticized
primary missions, contemporary assignments by the press in the Western democracies,
will embrace ‘all types of peace-support and Japanese society realized that UN poli-
operations’. In 1996, the Bundeswehr estab- cies were not always compatible with
lished a crisis reaction force, which can be national norms.
used for peacekeeping. It consists of more than Japan has subsequently sent troops to
50,000 troops: about 16% of the German Cambodia, the Golan Heights, and to East
armed forces. Timor, and authorized sending ground troops
Japan, like Germany, values the United for post-War reconstruction assistance in Iraq
Nations and its policies. However, social and in December 2003. This military reinvolve-
legal norms are the primary determinants of ment has costs to Japan, as reflected in ten-
Japanese national security policy (Katzenstein, sions between Japan and China over natural
1996). Japan developed a strong anti-military resources, and over security issues such as
culture in the post-World War II period, and those regarding the straits between China and
isolation of the armed forces from the larger Taiwan; all rooted in the history of Japan’s
society facilitated the growth of a pacifist role in World War II.
ideology in society. Japanese national secu- Italy was the third member of the World
rity policy is an exclusively defense-oriented War II axis to be largely confined to home-
one, derived from the spirit of Article 9 of the land defense in the post-War period. The cur-
new Constitution. Article 9 sets forth the rent Italian Republic was founded in 1946,
renunciation of war and possession of war and joined NATO in 1949, although ‘Italy
potential, and denies the state the right of tried for forty years to avoid direct military
belligerence. As early as in 1958, the United involvement of its troops, even while empha-
Nations asked Japan to send troops to a sizing its willingness to participate in human-
peacekeeping operation in Lebanon. Japan itarian and peace operations’ (Nuciari, 2000:
could not comply because the legality of the 144). The adoption of a New Defense Model
newly established Japan Self-Defense Force in 1991 made peacekeeping and humanitarian
(JSDF) was called into question. Although assistance the prevailing mission, particu-
the JSDF is regarded as a military force in the larly for volunteers in the Italian military.
global community, it has never been regarded Germany, Japan, and Italy are not the only
as ‘the military’ within Japanese society. nations that have been drawn into cooperative
Started as a police auxiliary, the JSDF does burden-sharing in peace operations by
not have some of the fundamental character- changes in the structure of the international
istics of a military organization, such as a community and in the nature of conflict.
court-martial system. Unlike Germany, Since the nineteenth century, for example,
Japan’s security relationship with neighbor- Denmark prior to 1990 had avoided deploy-
ing nations is distant, and the US–Japan ment of its military personnel outside its own