Japan's Aging Peace

Andrew Oros, author of Japan’s Security Renaissance: New Policies and Politics for the Twenty-First Century:
Japan’s Aging Peace innovatively explores the connection between Japan’s rapidly aging and shrinking population and the direction of its national security policy. Le marshals a wide range of evidence to support the view that Japan’s distinctive antimilitarist culture will continue to constrain nationalist impulses for years to come.

Paul Midford, author of Overcoming Isolationism: Japan’s Leadership in East Asian Security Multilateralism:
Tom Phuong Le has written a landmark study challenging widespread claims that Japan is “normalizing” and “remilitarizing.” Developing a useful taxonomy of militarism, antimilitarism, and pacifism, Le demonstrates the continued salience of normative constraints on deploying Japan’s military and offers an original argument about how Japan’s aging and declining population also limits the country’s supposed remilitarization. Japan’s Aging Peace deserves to be read by anyone interested in Japan, international politics in East Asia, U.S. policy in this region, or militarism and pacifism more generally.

Jennifer Lind, author of Sorry States: Apologies in International Politics:
As China’s power and ambitions grow, how will its neighbors respond? Japan’s Aging Peace addresses the future of Japanese national security policy, providing an important update to a longstanding debate. Arguing that a country’s security policy is supported by an ‘ecosystem’ of diverse social attributes—such as demographics, religion, and gender inequality—Le enriches debates about Japan’s, and East Asia’s, future.