Germany and Japan: “Reluctant warriors” no more?

Signifying the return of great power revisionism by all means, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has had a dramatic impact on the security and defense postures of Germany and Japan, two key US allies with strong anti-military foreign policy traditions based on peace constitutions. In analyzing the two countries’ far-reaching adjustments between 2022 and 2024, this article reflects on four major factors to explain the respective trajectories: threat perceptions, domestic political processes and settings, international institutional settings and alliance structures, and the influence of anti-militarist political cultures. While we identify a reorientation of Germany and Japan towards greater efforts for individual and collective self-defense due to increased threat perceptions, the residual influence of their anti-militarist cultures continues to restrain defense policy changes and their implementation. Interwoven into both countries’ domestic politics, those cultures have pervaded the material and institutional foundations of their security and defense policies in sustained ways.