Publication

This paper sheds light on the impact of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) on the country’s security policy. According to the authors, the DPJ has popularized and politicized Japanese security policy with the effect of leaving security decisions more exposed to political and public leverage. This, it is argued, reflects the party’s anti-bureaucratic policymaking instincts, its top-heavy structure, and its promotion of two-party competition. While stumbling over high-profile, politically salient issues such as North Korea crisis management, the party is progressing along a constructive security trajectory regarding issues of military-military relations with South Korea, and the updating of National Defense Program Guidelines.