The Abe Doctrine

This book focuses on Prime Minister Abes policy toward international peace and security proposed in 2013 under the basic principle of proactive contribution to peace. To this end, this book investigates Prime Minister Abes policy-making process of the Peace and Security Legislation, which transformed Japans security policy and enabled Japan to exercise the right of collective self-defense, which used to be unconstitutional. This book evaluates the implications of the Peace and Security Legislation on three fronts, domestic, bilateral, and international, by analyzing Japans Ballistic Missile Defense (BMD) program, the Japan-US alliance system, and Japans policy on international peacekeeping operations in South Sudan. This book is one of the first contributions to the research on Japans foreign and security policy under the Shinzo Abe administration and will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, and students of Japan, Japanese politics and international relations of the Asia-Pacific region.