000			02015nam a22002297a 4500
001			47402
003			OSt
005			20240822142221.0
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100			_aKENKI Adachi
245			_aThe undersecuritization of covid-19 in Japan: _bvoluntary behavioural change as self-defense?/ _cKenki Adachi
260			_c2024
520			_aFacing the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), leaders of many countries attempted to securitize the COVID-19 issue. The Japanese government, however, neither attempted to securitize it nor implemented strong measures to control its circulation. Yet the behavior of Japanese citizens changed significantly to prevent the spread of COVID-19. What were the mechanisms that drove them to voluntarily change their behavior? By introducing the analytical concept of ‘undersecuritization’, this article tries to answer this question, as well as to broaden the scope of the securitization argument. It first analyzes why Prime Minister Shinzo Abe did not attempt to securitize COVID-19. It then examines the mechanism behind citizens’ behavioral change. When Japanese citizens perceived the measures taken by their government as too weak to address the life-threatening COVID-19 issue, they started to feel that it was undersecuritized. This article argues that such awareness was the reason behind the voluntary behavioral changes that the Japanese people made in self-defense. It also shows that such self-defense measures can be more formidable than the measures taken by the government in a situation of oversecuritization.
598			_aCOVID-19, JAPAN, UNDERSECURITIZATION, SHINZO ABE, VOLUNTARY BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE, SELF-DEFENSE MEASURES, NEWARTICLS
650			_aCOVID-19 _zJAPAN
650			_aUNDERSECURITIZATION
650			_aSHINZO ABE
650			_aVOLUNTARY BEHAVIOURAL CHANGE
650			_aSELF-DEFENSE MEASURES
773			_gSecurity Dialogue, Volume 55, Number 3, June 2024, pg. 257-273
942			_2ddc _cARTICLE _n0
999			_c47402 _d47402