CIAO DATE: 8/00

Reform of Japan's Security and Development Policy: Rallying Around the Status Quo

"We need to change in order to remain the same." This popular slogan of Ichiro Ozawa catches the essence of the recent reform initiatives in Japan's foreign policy. Taking this notion into consideration, the following essay examines the changes in Japan's security policy and official development assistance (ODA) during the 1990s.

The reforms in the field of military security stretched from Japan's participation in UN-Peace Keeping (PKO-Law in 1992) to a new basic defense policy 1995, and finally to the new "Guidelines" of US-Japan military cooperation (the Japanese parliament adjusted national legislation to the changes only in 1999). Reforms of ODA started in 1992 with the formulation of the "ODA Charter" and reached a peak in 1999 with the issue of new ODA guidelines.

The reforms revealed a double intention. Firstly, they were intended to end the 'burden-sharing' campaign of the US Congress and thus preserve the alliance formed by the US-Japan security treaty, the 'backbone' of Japan's foreign relations. Secondly, in the inter-ministerial struggle in Tokyo, those who pressed for reforms thought to protect the status quo of their ministries and to preserve their core policies by thinking ahead.

But the changes generated also not intended effects. Japan, until then reluctant to open a can of worms of the past (foreign intervention), began to develop means that enabled it to politically intervene in the internal affairs of neighboring states. However, this 'new' type of intervention through PKO and ODA is characterized by multilateral and not by bilateral decision making. Therefore, it does not equal a simple strengthening of Japan's international position but also can be seen as a deepening Japanese submission to multilateral mechanisms of global policy formationóa consequence Ozawa certainly missed to anticipate.