Djibouti and Beyond: Japan’s First Post-War Overseas Base and the Recalibration of Risk in Securing Enhanced Military Capabilities

Having passed successive legislation in the past two decades to expand its use of the Japan Self Defense Force (JSDF), Japan has emerged from its post-war ‘pacifist’ shackles to assume a range of security roles that are typically associated with so-called ‘normal nations’. This article addresses how these have been crystallized in the form of an indefinitely-termed overseas base on the Horn of Africa, in Djibouti. Careful examination of pertaining Diet minutes, media discourse and government ministry papers suggests that the risks identified with this facility’s realization and status have been fundamentally recalibrated, allowing its presence and operational diversification to go largely unnoticed and unopposed – both domestically and overseas – despite representing a seemingly radical departure from common sense interpretations of Japan’s antimilitarist constitution.     

Anniversary meeting,June 24, 1936

The election of the first government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) in 2002 was a turning point for Turkey. People wanted change. That's what the AKP offered. Their successful economic management has seen Turkey transformed over the last 12 years. Foreign policy initiatives also prospered and relations with a number of neighbours improved.. More recent events have led some commentators to ask whether Turkey is moving forwards or backwards on the democratic path. There are concerns that the Ataturk legacy of a secular state is being slowly eroded by the forces of a conservative democracy and that too much power is now concentrated in the hands of Mr Erdogan. This is the background to the 2013 riots in (westernised) Istanbul. And the situation in the region leaves little room for optimism. The challenge now is to promote the political stability and predictability that will encourage continuing foreign and domestic investment in Turkey and to undertake the further structural reforms essential if Turkey is to rise out of the middle income trap and climb into the group of wealthier nations.     

代的希望:处于变化中的世界的年轻人

青年是从儿童或青少年逐渐被承认作为成年人的一个过渡期.处于儿童期和成年期之间的青年过渡期是一个半依赖期,年轻人试图完成个人的自主性,然而仍依赖他们的父母或国家.这个半依赖期的长短在不同的社会-经济和政治环境下有着巨大的差异.青年发展可以被理解为提高年轻人的地位,赋权年轻人建设他们生活的能力和潜能.积极的青年发展要求一个支持性的环境,且在稳定的政治、法律和经济环境里发展得最好,这种环境允许和鼓励年轻人自由和公开地参与政治和公民生活.青年发展指数是通过对5个领域的年轻人的进步的一个全球性的测量:公民参与、教育、就业和机会、健康和福利、以及政治参与,主要目标是在重要利益相关者之间形成对话,帮助政策制定者识别出干预和改革的优先领域,向年轻人传达信息,为那些需要数据指导他们的投资决策和宣传的人提供事实基础.     

PROSPECTS FOR BRITISH BUSINESS IN ASIA

This article reflects his address to members of the Society on 12 November 2007.