AID, PEACE-BUILDING, AND HUMAN SECURITY: JAPAN'S ENGAGEMENT IN CAMBODIA, IRAQ, AND SOUTH SUDAN, 1992-2017

Abstract

The thesis examines the evolution and sustained application of human security in Japan’s foreign policy. Specifically, it asks why, despite Japan’s military “normalisation,” human security continues to be an important pillar of Japanese foreign policy. The thesis argues that Japan’s security policymaking elites continue to rely on human security to achieve its foreign policy expansion goals because, international predicaments notwithstanding, Japan’s domestic environment prevents it from fully exercising an active military strategy. The thesis examines four cases of Japan’s peace-building for human security (Cambodia, 1992-2000; Iraq, 2002-2017; South Sudan, 2011-2017; and the Philippines, 2002-2017) to explain why Japan continues to apply human security in its foreign policy despite its foreign policy expansion in the post-Cold War period; how human security helps advance Japan’s foreign policy expansion goals; and which among the relevant domestic variables are the most prominent at a given period of time and under specific conditions.