Japan's postwar military and civil society
Subtitle: contesting a better life
By: Tomoyuki Sasaki
Series: SOAS studies in modern and contemporary Japan; SOAS studies in modern and contemporary Japan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic, an imprint of Bloomsbury Pub. Plc
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 208
ISBN-13: 9781472525550; 9781350024823
Subjects: Politics and government; Civil-military relations; Defenses; Social aspects; Military policy; Public opinion; Military Sociology; Armed Forces
Description: "Japan's so-called 'peace constitution' renounces war as a sovereign right of the nation, and bans the nation from possessing any war potential. Yet Japan also maintains a large, world-class military organization, namely the Self-Defence Forces (SDF). In this book, Tomoyuki Sasaki explores how the SDF enlisted popular support from civil society and how civil society responded to the growth of the SDF. Japan's Postwar Military and Civil Society details the interactions between the SDF and civil society over four decades, from the launch of rearmament in 1950. These interactions include recruitment, civil engineering, disaster relief, anti-SDF litigation, state financial support for communities with bases, and a fear-mongering campaign against the Soviet Union. By examining these wide-range issues, the book demonstrates how the militarization of society advanced as the SDF consolidated its ideological and socio-economic ties with civil society and its role as a defender of popular welfare. While postwar Japan is often depicted as a peaceful society, this book challenges such a view, and illuminates the prominent presence of the military in people's everyday lives."--Bloomsbury Publishing.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-202) and index.