Tuesday, February 18, 2020

Evaluate how domestic and regional factors limited Japan's abilities Research Paper

Evaluate how domestic and regional factors limited Japan's abilities to play more definitive security roles in East Asia. Asse - Research Paper Example There are some signs that this is now changing, but the Japan-US military alliance will continue to be the defining feature of Japan’s foreign policy for the foreseeable future. Article 9 Following the Second World War, Japan officially renounced its right to declare war, which has left the country in a unique situation, somewhat removed from the life of a ‘normal’ nation state. The Japanese military is restricted by Article 9 of its constitution, which states that Japan has forfeited its right as a nation to declare war, and will not recognize force as a valid means of settling disputes between nations. As a result, Japan does not officially keep its armed forces for any purpose except self-defense. Article 9 ends: ‘The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized’. Japan does maintain a large military force, and has one of the world’s largest military budgets, but this is justified as being purely in a defensive capacity, and unt il the past two decades, Japan did not even contribute personnel to peacekeeping missions sanctioned by the United Nations (UN). The defense budget is nearly $50 billion, approximately 1% of Japanese GDP, and it spends a further $2 billion annually on supporting American forces based in Japan1. Japanese forces are controlled tightly by civilian politicians, and the first time they were allowed to operate outside of the country was in a peacekeeping capacity in Cambodia in 1992-3. Article 9 effectively prevents Japan from taking a particularly active military role in international affairs, and for many Japanese, who are broadly pacifist, the horrors of the Second World War remain a powerful reason not to abolish Article 9 from the constitution2. As Kingston put it, ‘The US actually insisted on the insertion of Article 9 in the Japanese Constitution [as part of postwar peace negotiations], but has regretted it ever since’3. The United States would prefer Japan to take a m ore active role in attaining their shared security goals, so that it would not have to shoulder the absolute burden of operations in East Asia, including making considerable provision for Japan’s own defense. Kingston argues that, despite strong popular support for Article 9 – ‘For many Japanese, it is a point of pride that Japan’s Constitution embraces pacifism, a powerful symbolic break with the wartime past and an ongoing guarantee’, it has ‘diminished sway over government security policy’4. As we shall see, Japan has indeed circumvented the provisions of its constitution to deploy its forces abroad in recent years. The Japan-US Alliance Following the Treaty of San Francisco, Japan’s foreign policy has essentially been guided by its close relationship with the United States. Japan has been able to leave international issues to the United States, and concentrated mainly on economic recovery and development, ‘with relative ly little concern (and cost) for its own defense’5. The Alliance has had benefits for the US also. Keen to expand its practical influence right across the Pacific in the aftermath of the Second World War, Japan, as an archipelago right off the Asian mainland, offered an ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’ from which to pursue this policy. Bases in Japan have helped with deployments against Communist forces in Korea and Vietnam, as well as other conflicts in the region. This alliance is boosted by the large volume and value of trade between the US and Japan.

Monday, February 3, 2020

Subsistence Modes and Their Impact on the Amish Culture Research Paper

Subsistence Modes and Their Impact on the Amish Culture - Research Paper Example It does not require settlement, but it is also not reliable and makes it difficult to prepare for difficult times. Horticulture refers to the science of cultivating plants for human use which requires a great deal of knowledge regarding which plants are the most useful for which activities and how to make them grow. Pastoral lifestyles are characterized by herding large numbers of livestock around open land areas according to the seasons and availability of water. This type of lifestyle requires the availability of open land and the ability to move around. An agricultural form of subsistence can be thought of as farming, raising both animals and crops to support human life. This is different from an agrarian lifestyle only in that the agrarian lifestyle focuses on an entire community working together, all of them relying on agriculture as the base means of support but not all being engaged in farming as their personal means of support. An industrial society is recognizable to most of us simply because it is closest to the type of society we live in today in the modern world dominated by businesses, technology, mass production, and masses of people everywhere. However, there are still some societies that have managed to hold onto older forms of subsistence even in the face of widespread industrialization. By studying societies such as the Amish, it is possible to understand how a cultural group's form of subsistence helps to shape other elements of their culture such as their attitudes to religion, family life, and marriage. The Amish are a relatively isolated group of horticulturalists living in scattered pockets throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico. According to Powell (2012), "The first sizeable group of Amish arrived in America around 1730 and settled near Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, as a result of William Penn's 'holy experiment' in religious tolerance" (p. 1). This group of people disagreed with the Anabaptists in Switzerland regarding some foundational religious concepts associated with their selected lifestyle, causing them to move to the Americas and begin their own religious sect. As a group, the Amish are dedicated to the horticultural way of life, which works to grow fruits, vegetables, and other plant materials necessary for survival within a self-contained, self-sustaining community of close-knit individuals. They believe in living as close to the land as they can, doing things naturally and depending on nature to meet their various needs. "Two key concepts for understanding Amish practices are their rejection of 'huchmut' (pride, arrogance) and the high value they place on 'demut' or humility and 'gelassenheit' (German, meaning: calmness, composure, placidity)" (Scully, 2007, p. 30). This natural approach to life was easy back when they first moved to America and the land was mostly wilderness, but as the land became more populated and particularly once it began to industrialize, it was their dedication to th eir traditional means of subsistence that led them to isolate themselves further and further from the rest of the world, as they found it necessary to create rules that would govern and protect their way of life. "All aspects of Amish life are dictated by a list of written or oral rules, known as Ordnung, which outlines the basics of the Amish faith and helps to define what it means