The Trajectory of Japan's Peacekeeping Policy during the Cold War

Abstract Throughout the Cold War, Japan was reluctant to make contributions in the security field. It long avoided dispatching its Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to UN peacekeeping operations during the Cold War era. As the Cold War was ending, however, and Japanese politicians and the Japanese public became more amenable to SDF participation in peacekeeping, Japan revised its peacekeeping legislation three times to expand the SDF's scope of action. The factors that inspired the gradual expansion of Japan's role in peacekeeping operations had their roots in Cold War-era debates. By investigating struggles between Japan's anti-militarist domestic norm and the international norm of making a troop contribution during the Cold War and early post–Cold War years, this article shows that Japan had to strike a balance between domestic and international norms. Japan's peacekeeping policy was a direct product of this balancing effort.