Policy Paper Proposal - Essay Example

When countries start equating security and national defense with equipping or stockpiling its weapon reserves, we begin to look for the concealed agenda behind such act. Defense weapons take up a considerable appropriation from the national budget which could be diverted to purposefully serve the common good of its constituents. Yet the United States has continued its current defense system spending with its war against Iraq and terrorism. There is no question about the country's vital interest in security and economic growth; it is every American's moral obligation but to see beyond the influence over weapons of mass destruction creates the skepticism on its exact concept.

Japan as a unique homogenous country represents opposing extremes in individual relationships and freedom against the US fondness for multicultural diversity. Delor's1 comparison of Japan's model is based on society's excessive guardianship over the individual in contrast to the American model of individual triumph over society. Both countries as equal foes during WWII have created a fair amount of wariness to warrant an extra-close bilateral relation. Yet, when Japan conducted a significant amount of cooperation with the United States to increase its defense capability under the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation2, it was harder to gauge where the possibilities would lead.

After September 11, the United States and the Bush Administration had increasingly built enough confidence on an alliance with Japan that has resulted to the best relations of both countries. Currently, there are more than 47,000 US military personnel in Japan who will assume the obligation to maintain and develop the capacity to protect both countries in case of an armed attack on territories under the Japanese administration. In November 2005, the Japanese proposed constitutional revisions that would create a cabinet level Defense Ministry while keeping the old clauses mandating official pacifism.

Under the revisions, the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF or SDF) would formally be referred to as a military force and the new wording proposed is "in order to secure peace and the independence of our country as well as the security of the state and the people, military forces for self-defense shall be maintained with the prime minister of the cabinet as the supreme commander." The amendment has widespread support and is expected to pass through as a popular referendum3.Japan and US Relations after the WWII To recall, Japan's defeat in WWII created lasting effects on the national consciousness towards the war and military involvement in governmental politics.

The devastation brought about by the effects of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has evoked and attitude that was clearly exhibited by the public's wide acceptance of disarmament and demobilization of military leaders after the war. Dismantling of the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy gained a wide support under General Douglas McArthur. Defeat created a pacifist attitude and sentiment that fostered the 1947 Japanese Constitution which, under Art. IX forever renounces war as an instrument for settling international disputes and declares that "Japan will never again maintain land, sea, or air forces or other war potential".

The deprivation any military capability after 1945, created only the US occupation forces and a few domestic police on which to rely for security. The Cold War tension in Europe and Asia coupled with leftist-inspired