The US-Japan security bargain: Origins and transformation

This two-part study explains origins and evolution of the US-Japan security relationship, focusing on interaction among different national security priorities. The historical basis for alliance was less agreement on common threats than a "differentiated exchange" between security policy makers of economic and military means to achieving national relative advantage. From the onset of official relations in the mid-nineteenth century, American and Japanese officials held different conceptions of security which led to conflict. In the aftermath of war and during the Occupation of Japan, a truncated, demilitarized version of Japan's pre-war broad national security approach meshed with a narrower, liberal American self-concept that nominally excluded economic activities from military, "security," matters. Institutionalization of these different conceptions by 1954 established an alliance bargain composed of unlike contributions: Japanese economic security priorities, promised rearmament and provision of bases were exchanged for an American military guarantee and defense-related economic assistance.;The overall dynamic of alliance transformation has been economic and military technological forces working their way through institutions that define matters of national security and develop policies to promote national relative advantages. Domestic institutional change has been rare, but pivotal to larger changes in alliance. Current strategic options range from technological autonomy to traditional military alliance, neither of which is desirable given military-economic realities and national constraints. Consequently, there is an urgent need for the various institutions developing national security strategies to build bilateral channels for policy coordination. Policy makers should confront residual differences of national security concepts and priorities without provoking a spiral of nationalistic reactions.;Subsequent changes in security relations are illustrated by 1960 security treaty revision, 1981 military role-sharing, and 1987 co-development of an advanced fighter aircraft. Each case is analyzed as a new "security bargain" between Japanese and American policy makers, comprising military, political and economic dimensions, and subject to forces for change. Historical progression of these bargains indicates convergence toward strategic similarity, as Japanese military capability and responsibilities gradually expand and pressures for American economic security policies mount. However, the coexistence of old and new security priorities constitutes an unstable mixture.