Reluctant Remilitarisation: Transforming the Armed Forces in Germany, Italy and Japan After the Cold War

How and why the three losers of the Second World War reconsidered their pacifism, embraced a more active military role and transformed their armed forces after the Cold War Analysis of the process of military transformation in Italy, Germany and Japan Addresses the impact of historical legacies on the pacing and direction of transformation Looks at the transformation of military doctrine and force structure over three decades Assesses the impact of different external and internal factors in military transformation While armed forces in several countries underwent deep transformations after the end of the Cold War, few if any, however, experiences more radical changes than Germany and Italy, and Japan. The book explores how the three countries modified posture and structure of their militaries over the past three decades. While the three countries all had to overcome a pacifist constitution, a widespread view in both elites and public opinion that that war was a taboo, and armed forces designed to defend and deter against large-scale threats, they all became more active security providers over the last decades. Each country followed a distinct path, though. The book reconstructs these paths, trying to show how a mix of external and domestic factors affected the pace and the extent of transformations. The book also identifies critical junctures in such process: any push to change it is argued is mediated by the need to come to terms with the cumbersone weight of the past.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Chapter 1: Introduction: Military Transformation in Germany, Italy and Japan Chapter 2: Historical background: The Cold War and beyond Chapter 3: Military Transformation: Drivers and Sequences Chapter 4: Germany: to crisis management and back Chapter 5: Italy: the intervention-transformation loop Chapter 6: Japan: from defensive defence to pro-active contributions to peace Chapter 7: Conclusions List of interviews References

About the Author :
Fabrizio Coticchia is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political and International Sciences at the University of Genoa, Italy. Matteo Dian is Associate Professor of History and International Relations of East Asia in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy. Francesco N. Moro is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe in Bologna, Italy.

Review :
Reluctant Remilitarization offers a much needed comparative analysis of how the defense policies of Germany, Italy and Japan – three countries with strong anti-militarist traditions – have evolved after the Cold War. Their respective trajectories are marked by continuity and change, shaped by path dependencies and critical junctures, as well as the interplay between external and domestic factors. Shedding light on these processes, the book will be of great value for readers seeking to understand how these three countries have transformed in the turbulent post-Cold War era. Because they lost World War II, Germany, Italy and Japan spent much of the Cold War rejecting militarism and doing the minimum necessary to keep the United States happy and the Soviet threat at bay. In this compelling new book, Coticchia, Dian, and Moro demonstrate the essential role of critical junctures in the post-Cold War transformation of military doctrine and force structure in Germany, Italy, and Japan. In each case, the authors paint a careful picture of how international and domestic factors interact in complex and fascinating ways. This book is essential reading for those interested in the challenges facing military modernization efforts in these countries and beyond. Coticchia, Dian and Moro convincingly show the complex interplay between international and domestic politics and the path-dependencies created at critical junctures. By taking a comparative approach, the authors shed valuable new light on the transformation of military doctrine and force structure in Germany, Italy, and Japan. The three empirical chapters are the highlight of the book, combining a wealth of evidence from official documents and parliamentary speeches, to interviews with the protagonists of these reluctant transformations. In doing so, they help us to better understand the historical trajectory of these three countries in relation to their increasing military activism and enduring institutional backstops: two seemingly contradictory impulses, but in reality key components of adaptation.