Japan's Quest for a Permanent Security-council Seat: A Matter of Pride or Justice? (St Antony's Series) Book

The purpose of this book is to examine comprehensively for the first time the historical and international background, motivation, decision-making process and policy implementation of Japan's ambition to become a permanent UN Security Council member. Despite the negative impact of the Cold War and the hitherto failure of UN reform, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has pursued this goal for several decades. The understanding of the 'why' and 'how' of this quest provides useful insights into Japan's foreign and multilateral diplomacy, its quest for status reflecting its economic and political power, its efforts to transform economic power into political power, and its ability and will to shoulder more inter-national burden. It not only shows how important multilateralism has become for Japan, but also how important Japan - as the second highest UN budget contributor and top ODA donor - has become to multilateralism and what we may expect of Japan as a possible future permanent Security Council member.Read More