Japan's military expansion: An analysis of bureaucratic politics and change of the defense policy and the decision-making process

It is a well known fact that Japan spends only a small percentage of her Gross National Product on defense. What is not well known, however, is the fact that Japan's defense expenditure ranks among the top in the world and that the Self-Defense Forces is considered one of the best armies in the world. Since empirical studies concerning Japan's recent military expansion are rare both in Japanese and English, this study took up this neglected area. This study examined how the political influence of the four schools of thought regarding the decision making process in the late 1970s and the early 1980s has changed and how this change has affected and will continue to affect the National Defense Program Outline (NDPO). It also demonstrated some similarities and differences between Japanese and United States decision making. Although this is a study of the combinations of bureaucratic politics and organizational factors that impact defense policy, the study is useful in understanding other areas of decision making in Japan. By including a political party as an actor, the bureaucratic politics model can be applied to the situation in other countries which are under a strong party influence and have a parliamentary system. In this respect, the study has made a contribution in better understanding the bureaucratic politics model. It further demonstrated that the major hypotheses were valid. That is: (1) The more military realists gain power, the more likely the defense policy decision making system under the leadership of the political realists will change; and (2) The more military realists gain power in the defense policy decision making system, the more likely that the revision of the NDPO will occur. Finally, it showed expanded roles and missions of the SDF under the Guideline for Japan-United States Defense Cooperation.