The Origin and Development of the U.S.-Japan Defense Cooperation

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25885095
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: International relations
• Research Institution: Nagoya University of Commerce & Business
• Principal Investigator: YOSHIDA Shingo 名古屋商科大学, 経済学部, 講師 (10705883)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-08-30 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 国際関係 / 安全保障 / 日本外交史 / 日米関係 / 日米同盟

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The defense cooperation between the United States and Japan, which had been kept intact since the formation of their alliance in 1951, was launched in the latter half of the 1970s and promoted steadily throughout the 1980s. Up to the present date, its depth and scope has been growing for more than three decades. This research sheds light on the question of why and how the U.S.-Japan defense cooperation began and developed from the 1970s to 1980s, based on American and Japanese archival materials. Put another way, this research empirically reveals the origins and early developments of the bilateral defense cooperation which has constituted the core of the Pacific alliance. This research not only unveils an unexamined historical aspect of the U.S.-Japan alliance, but also adds more nuanced insights to theoretical studies of alliances and contributes to the historical studies of the Cold War (especially its ending).

Free Research Field

日本政治外交史