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A Research On The "China's Military Threat Theory" Of The Japanese Decisionmaker With The Coginitive Theory

Posted on:2012-02-27Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:H N ZhangFull Text:PDF
GTID:2216330362460234Subject:International relations
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
"National Defense Program Guidelines for FY 2011 and beyond"that the Japanese government announced on December 17, 2010 highlighted the"China's military threat"and made a series of major adjustments in the surrounding defense deployment. According to the cognitive theory of the international relations psychology, the issuance of the new Guidelines is closely related to the perception of Japanese decisionmaker. Thus, it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to research on the causes of the defense policy adjustment that Japanese decisionmaker made from the angle of perception.The cognitive theory in international relations comes from cognitive psychology. Application of cognitive theory in international relations can be divided into three stages: before the 1970 s; the early 1970 s to the end of the Cold War; since the end of the Cold War. In the cognitive theory, the research results of the threat perception show that it is of selection perception and judgment that the subject observe the threat signal in objective situation, and it is a kind of subjective cognitive construction. It is integrated Walt's measure of threat perception with Jervis'historical case study method. The veracity of Japan's threat perception is judged from two dimensions that are horizontal (four influence variables of threat perception: overall strength, geographical location, attack ability and aggression intent) and longitudinal (the history of Sino-Japanese relationship). Thus, the"China's military threat theory"of the Japanese decisionmaker is the wrong cognition. Comparing with the three previous versions, the main changes of the new Guidelines that as an example have four aspects: strategic target, defense concept, defense keystone and defense forces. The new Guidelines highlight "China's military threat" from three aspects that are"increasing in statements about China","aiming at China clearly on southwest islands' defense deployment"and"without mentioning China in the traditional security cooperation of the Asia-Pacific region". The reason is that the wrong threat perception of the Japanese decisionmaker led to significant changes in Japan's defense policy.In Jervis'viewpoint,there are three reasons lead to producing of the misperception:①the cognition consistent phenomenon;②the role of the evoked set;③the influence of the historical experience. On this basis, the latest relevant research results have increased two factors that are emotion and motivation, cultural difference. The framework is constructed to analyze the causes of Japanese decisionmaker's misperception. The main causes of the Japanese decisionmaker's misperception include: the cognition consistent phenomenon; the impact of the evoked set; the misleading of historical analogy; the influence of"island mentality"; the Sino-Japanese cultural differences, etc. From the fields, economy, culture, military affairs e.g. China should strive to resolve the"China's military threat theory"of Japanese decisionmaker on the basis of the development overall situation.
Keywords/Search Tags:coginitive theory, Japanese decisionmaker, "China's military threat theory", misperception
PDF Full Text Request
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