Unraveling Japan's aircraft carrier puzzle: leveraging carriers' symbolic value/ Brendon J. Cannon & Ash Rossiter
Material type:
TextPublication details: 2022Subject(s): Online resources:
In:
Asian Security Vol 18, No. 1, 2022, pp. 20-37 (21A)Summary: Japan's decision to convert two helicopter-carrying ships into fixed-wing aircraft carriers has generated criticism on two fronts. Military analysts question the military sense of carriers in the age of long-range precision missiles, while other domestic critics decry the move as a flagrant breach of Japan's constitutional constraints on possessing senryoku (war potential) and one likely to provoke Japan's neighbors, most notably China. Against this backdrop of criticism, why did the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe take Japan back into the difficult business of carriers? This article argues that contrary to stated criticism, the carrier conversion program does provide Tokyo with tangible military benefits but these on their own are insufficient to explain the decision. Instead, we show the move is motivated in part by the desire to leverage carriers' symbolic value for political ends.
| Item type | Current library | Call number | Copy number | Status | Date due | Barcode | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Journal Article | Mindef Library & Info Centre Journals | JAPAN (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | 1 | Not for loan | 69391.1001 |
Browsing Mindef Library & Info Centre shelves, Shelving location: Journals Close shelf browser (Hides shelf browser)
Japan's decision to convert two helicopter-carrying ships into fixed-wing aircraft carriers has generated criticism on two fronts. Military analysts question the military sense of carriers in the age of long-range precision missiles, while other domestic critics decry the move as a flagrant breach of Japan's constitutional constraints on possessing senryoku (war potential) and one likely to provoke Japan's neighbors, most notably China. Against this backdrop of criticism, why did the administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe take Japan back into the difficult business of carriers? This article argues that contrary to stated criticism, the carrier conversion program does provide Tokyo with tangible military benefits but these on their own are insufficient to explain the decision. Instead, we show the move is motivated in part by the desire to leverage carriers' symbolic value for political ends.
JAPAN, MILITARY, CHINA, POLITICS, DEFENCE, ASIAN, SECURITY
There are no comments on this title.