The Role of Experts in the Evolution of the US-Japan Alliance

 The article examines the influence of bipartisan groups of U.S. experts headed by Joseph Nye and Richard Armitage on the development and adaption of defence and foreign policy decisions in Japan related to the U.S.-Japanese alliance. Since the early 1990s, the international landscape changed dramatically due to the conclusion of the Cold War. This transformation affected U.S.-Japanese relations. The 1990s even witnessed attempts of Tokyo to distance itself from Washington. However, the rise of the new threats from North Korean nuclear and missile programmes, Chinese rearmament and international terrorism created a new rationale for the bilateral alliance. The article analyses reports written by Nye and Armitage in 1995, 2000, 2007 and 2012. It shows that key ideas of the American reports have been incorporated by the Japanese government and taken into the drafting of documents on Japanese security policy and Japan-US military and political cooperation. It concludes that U.S. experts provided the conceptual framework for the alliance development, in which priority is given to maintaining the Japan-US security system in Asia Pacific not only to ensure the security of Japan but also to maintain peace and stability in the region; promoting Tokyo’s greater involvement and contribution to American activities in the region that include Japan’s participation in the U.S. ballistic missile defence program, peacekeeping, and search and rescue operations. As a result of the reforms, Japan has to bear higher responsibility within the alliance. This redistribution is a part of broader U.S. efforts to increase the contribution of its allies across Asia to the maintaining of the American-centered regional order.

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