Layering Institutions: The Logic of Japan’s Institutional Strategy for Regional Security

Abstract

Compared with earlier periods, one feature stands out in Japan’s post—cold war security policy: to an unprecedented extent, the island state has woven itself into a web of new Asia-Pacific security institutions.¹ This situation is in sharp contrast especially to the cold war period, when the bilateral alliance with the United States was practically the only security institution with which Japan involved itself. Far from being the “reactive state” of yesteryear,² post—cold war Japan has been proactive in erecting and nurturing this web of security institutions.