Political Influence on Japanese Nuclear and Security Policy: New Forces Face Large Obstacles
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Authors
Tatsumi, Yuki
Weiner, Robert
Subjects
Advisors
Date of Issue
2014-02
Date
Publisher
Monterey, California: Naval Postgraduate School
Language
en_US
Abstract
Japan’s nuclear weapons policy has long enjoyed a stable, if somewhat internally inconsistent,
equilibrium. Anti-proliferation efforts co-exist with reliance upon the United States’ nuclear
deterrent, alongside dependence on a nuclear energy program robust enough to potentially
support nuclear weapons capability. These policies have been promoted and maintained by
Japan’s bureaucracy rather than by political bargains, with their bureaucratic proponents
separately stovepiped rather than organized into a coherent whole. But new developments
appear to leave Japan’s nuclear security policy – and its relations with the U.S. over this
policy – in flux. New threats and changing public attitudes are gradually eroding taboos on
nuclear weapons. New or newly energized political actors stand to amplify the impact of
such public opinion shifts. A more actively nuclear Japan could destabilize the U.S.-Japan
alliance, raise nuclear weapons levels in Asia, and undercut Japan’s role as a model
nonnuclear ally; on the other hand, new anti-nuclear sentiment could hinder ongoing U.S.-
Japan nuclear dialogue...
Type
Report
Description
Series/Report No
Department
National Security Affairs
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
2014-004
Sponsors
U.S. Naval Postgraduate School (NPS),
Center on Contemporary Conflict (CCC),
Project on Advanced Systems and Concepts for
Countering WMD (PASCC)
Funder
Format
Citation
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.