U.S.-Japan Alliance as Security Community

Abstract

This study aims at revealing the ontological nature of the security alliance of the United States and Japan by examining its history in postwar period. This article here utilizes revised security community theory of Emanuel Adler and Michael Barnett that is combined with the Constructivism. According to this theory, the alliance passes three stages. Phase 1: Nascent is the first stage that multiple states seek alliance in the face of the current menace. And those allied states expand the cooperative relations in economy and politics that are derived from their strategic interests. Phase 2: Ascendant is the next stage that the allied states construct the web of institutional network in military operations and its arrangements. Meanwhile, the alliance sees lowered threat of common enemy and consolidates diplomatic partnerships. Phase 3: Mature is the final stage that bilateral alliance seek its transformation for multilateral alliance. Furthermore, the alliance recognizes the altered nature of common threat is altered and faces with necessity of redefining the threat. This study will examine history of U.S.-Japan security alliance divided into three periods: 1945-1970, 1971-1989, and 1989-present. In so doing, this article will examine whether the U.S.-Japan alliance fits into the model of the revised Decutch model. This means that this study will reveal the nature of evolved strategic relationships between the United States and Japan.