Japan and East Asian Security
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this political science course examining Japan's evolving role in regional and global security. Topics include Japanese conceptions of national security, rearmament debates, the link between domestic politics and foreign policy, the effects of Japan's economic and technological rise, alternative trade and security frameworks, Japan's response to the September 11 attacks, and its relations with China, Korea, Russia, and the United States alliance. Materials include readings, lecture notes, and assignments from MIT's curriculum, freely available online. The course is aimed at advanced students of international relations and East Asian politics and traces how Japan has balanced pacifist constitutional constraints against pressure to expand its military and diplomatic role in a shifting regional order.