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392. Deliberation and Global Criminal Justice: Juries in the International Criminal Court
- Author:
- Eugene P. Deess, John Gastil, and Colin J. Lingle
- Publication Date:
- 03-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Institution:
- Carnegie Council
- Abstract:
- As part of a broad scholarly discussion about how democratic practices may be integrated into global political culture, this article identifies an as yet unrealized opportunity to bring deliberative democracy and an additional infusion of legitimacy into international governance. We propose that a fully developed set of democratic global institutions should include, in some manner, one of the most venerable citizen-centered deliberative mechanisms—the jury. A handful of countries, such as Japan, Russia, and Argentina, have made varying degrees of progress in recent years toward incorporating new jury systems to burnish their legal institutions. Furthermore, civic reformers often have regarded the jury system as an important element of public policy-making, as in the case of citizens' juries—deliberative bodies of typically randomly selected citizens that are asked to consider testimony and evidence to arrive at recommendations on public policy questions. To date, however, there exists no movement toward a multinational or global jury system, and few have ever taken up the cause, even as a matter of conjecture.
- Political Geography:
- Russia, Japan, Argentina, and North America
393. Incorporating Traditional Knowledge in an International Regime on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing: Problems and Prospects
- Author:
- Gurdial Singh Nijar
- Publication Date:
- 05-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Abstract:
- The Seventh Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (2004) of the Convention on Biological Diversity established a mandate for the negotiation of an international regime on Access to Genetic Resources and Benefit Sharing arising from their utilization. Negotiations have been proceeding and have entered the final phase. Seven working group meetings have been held to date and there is expectation that an instrument will emerge by the final deadline – the Tenth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties in Nagoya, Japan in October 2010. A key component singled out for inclusion in the international regime relates to the recognition and protection of the rights of indigenous and local communities (ILCs) over their traditional knowledge (TK) associated with genetic resources. The Ninth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties (2008) established a Group of Technical and Legal Experts to assist the Working Group to deal with this issue. The Group met in India in June 2009 and has submitted a report. This article reflects on the key outcomes of this Expert Group report. In particular, it identifies the key issues that need to be considered and resolved for TK associated to genetic resources to form an integral and viable component of the proposed international regime.
- Political Geography:
- Japan
394. China-Japan Security Relations
- Publication Date:
- 10-2010
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Brookings Institution
- Abstract:
- The recent clash between a Chinese fishing vessel and the Japanese coast guard in the East China Sea demonstrates continuing potential for conflict between China and Japan over territory and maritime resources, one that could affect the United States. China's stronger navy and air force in and over the waters east and south of the country's coast is one dimension of that country's growing power. But the deployment of these assets encroaches on the traditional area of operations of Japan's navy and air force - and a clash between Chinese and Japanese ships and planes cannot be ruled out.
- Topic:
- Conflict Resolution, Foreign Policy, Diplomacy, and Bilateral Relations
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, China, and Asia
395. "Explaining Japanese Antimilitarism: Normative and Realist Constraints on Japan's Security Policy"
- Author:
- Yasuhiro Izumikawa
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Security
- Institution:
- Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard University
- Abstract:
- Since the late 1990s, Japan has sent increasing numbers of its military forces overseas. It has also assumed a more active military role in the U.S.-Japan alliance. Neither conventional constructivist nor realist approaches in international relations theory can adequately explain these changes or, more generally, changes in Japan's security policy since the end of World War II. Instead, Japan's postwar security policy has been driven by the country's powerful antimilitarism, which reflects the following normative and realist factors: pacifism, antitraditionalism, and fear of entrapment. An understanding of the influence of these three factors makes it possible to explain both Japan's past reluctance to play a military role overseas and its increasing activism over the last decade. Four case studies-the revision of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty in 1960, the anti-Vietnam War period, increases in U.S.-Japan military cooperation during détente, and actions taken during the administration of Junichiro Koizumi to enhance Japan's security profile-illustrate the role of antimilitarism in Japan's security policy. Only through a theoretical approach based on analytical eclecticism-a research strategy that considers factors from different paradigms-can scholars explain specific puzzles in international politics.
- Topic:
- Security and War
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, and Vietnam
396. Introduction
- Author:
- G. John Ikenberry and Takashi Inoguchi
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- Over the last half century, the United States has been a dominating presence in East Asia. In the shadow of the Cold War, a regional order took shape organized around an array of bilateral alliances and an open trade system – all tied to the United States. In this American-led regional hegemonic order, the United States provided security through security agreements and the forward deployment of its forces while it supported the expansion and integration of East Asian countries in the context of an open multilateral world economy. The United States–Japan alliance was the cornerstone of this regional order. In the background, the East Asian region was nested within the wider Cold War-era American-led Western order. After the Cold War ended, this Pax Americana was extended outward throughout the globe. Alliances, free trade, multilateral institutions, democratic community, and American hegemony all went together.
- Political Geography:
- United States, Japan, and East Asia
397. The politics of coordination and miscoordination in the post-Cold War United States–Japan alliance: from a Japanese perspective
- Author:
- Motoshi Suzuki
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- Alliance coordination involves a multiplicity of equilibria, the resolution of which depends on institutions and knowledge known as focal-point effects. Since the end of the Cold War, the alliance has expanded its missions despite difficult coordination problems by taking advantage of multiple focal factors. Although common threat perceptions have continued to serve as a central focal factor, other factors, such as shared democratic values and international norms, have been used to legitimate the alliance's missions that are beyond what the perceived threats could justify. To be a viable focal factor, common threat perceptions, democratic values, and international norms need to be backed up by the causal knowledge that alliance coordination has stabilizing, confidence-building, and legitimating effects on regional and international security, respectively. More recently, however, the allies' perceptions are becoming more complex and divergent, putting increasing pressures on the other factors for maintaining and expanding the missions. Although democratic values and international norms could generate diversionary effects in broadening Japan's policy horizon, this need not be feared insofar as it contributes to the alliance's basic goal.
- Political Geography:
- United States and Japan
398. Uneasy Warriors: Gender, Memory, and Popular Culture in the Japanese Army
- Author:
- Alessio Patalano
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- This monograph examines the socio-cultural realm of the Japan Self-Defence Forces (JSDF) charting the contradictions and uneasiness of the modern military profession within the country. Across five chapters, Sabine provocatively points out how in many ways the JSDF prefigured the 'post-modern' character of present military organizations through their practice of 'carefully constraining and recasting their potential for violent acts in the name of the Japanese state' (p. 7). In post-war Japan, normative constraints enshrined in Article 9 of the constitution, memories of the violent behavior of the imperial armed forces, post-war popular culture, and social models, have in fact contributed to make the transition towards 'new modes of militarized gender' a permanent factor shaping the JSDF's identity.
- Political Geography:
- Japan
399. Normalizing Japan: Politics, Identity, and the Evolution of Security Practice
- Author:
- Seung Hyok Lee
- Publication Date:
- 09-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- International Relations of the Asia-Pacific
- Institution:
- Japan Association of International Relations
- Abstract:
- Scholars of international relations (IR) generally agree that at present Japan is not sufficiently 'normal' in its national security principles and behavior, as symbolized by the nation's 'peace constitution' and the restraints imposed on national power projections. Scholarly experts offer, however, dichotomous views on Japan's future trajectory. 'Realists' emphasizing materialistic power distribution in international politics assert that Japan is already close to discarding its post World War II pacifist identity in order to become a muscle-flexing military giant more commensurate with its international status and changing external environment. 'Constructivists' focusing on the resilience of social identity, on the other hand, counter that despite drastic shifts in international power dynamics, Japan is likely to maintain the core of its antimilitaristic security institutions, as a prudent Japanese society and domestic politics remain at the core of security policy-making.
- Political Geography:
- Japan
400. The Last Yakuza
- Author:
- Jake Adelstein
- Publication Date:
- 06-2010
- Content Type:
- Journal Article
- Journal:
- World Policy Journal
- Institution:
- World Policy Institute
- Abstract:
- TOKYO—In June 2007, as Japan's upper house elections were drawing near, the nation's largest organized crime group—the 40,000 member Yamaguchi-gumi—decided to throw its support behind the country's second leading political party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). Fifteen of the Yamaguchi- gumi's top-ranking members made the decision behind closed doors. After the die was cast, a meeting was convened at the sprawling Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters, which take up two square blocks in Kobe. The gang's most powerful executive members, the jikisan, were summoned from throughout Japan and ordered to put their full support behind the DPJ. The message was simple. “We've worked out a deal with a senior member of the DPJ. We help them get elected and they keep a criminal conspiracy law, the kyobozai, off the books for a few more years,” one insider said. The next month, calls went out from Yamaguchi-gumi headquarters to the heads of each local branch across the country. In Tokyo, even the conservative boss Goto Tadamasa, leader of the 1,000 strong Yamaguchi-gumi unit called the Goto-gumi, told his people, “We're backing DPJ. Whatever resources you have available to help the local DPJ representative win, put them to work.” Bosses of the Inagawa-kai, Japan's third largest organized crime group (10,000 members), met in an entertainment complex they own in Yokohama, and announced to board members that the Inagawa-kai would support DPJ as well. At the same time, the yakuza allegedly struck a deal with Mindan and Chosensoren— political and social organizations that lobby for the rights and interests of Japanese of Korean descent—to support the DPJ. Party leaders, in turn, promised both groups that they would strive to get Japanese- Koreans with permanent residence equal voting rights when they took office. According to the National Police Agency [NPA], of the more than 86,000 yakuza members in Japan, a third are of Korean descent.
- Political Geography:
- Japan and Tokyo