Lionel Fatton
I am Assistant Professor of International Relations at Webster University and Research Collaborator at the Research Institute for the History of Global Arms Transfer, Meiji University. My research interest lies in International Relations Theories, and more precisely Neoclassical Realism and civil-military relations. As a Neoclassical Realist, I focus on great power politics and security/military affairs, while taking into account aspects of domestic politics that interfere with foreign policy decision-making. My geographical area of specialization is the Indo-Pacific region and in particular international and security dynamics in East and Southeast Asia, China-Taiwan-Japan-US relations and Japanese and Chinese foreign/security policies.
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Papers by Lionel Fatton
This analysis approaches this question from the perspective of Tokyo’s response to challenges in the South China Sea, where tensions are growing amid the rise of China. It shows how the Japanese government is pursuing a strategy of “offshore balancing,” hoping that the military assets of its regional partners can deter Beijing from taking destabilising initiatives. The analysis concludes that, depending primarily on the evolution of China’s behaviour, Japan may well become directly involved in the South China Sea in the near future.
This analysis approaches this question from the perspective of Tokyo’s response to challenges in the South China Sea, where tensions are growing amid the rise of China. It shows how the Japanese government is pursuing a strategy of “offshore balancing,” hoping that the military assets of its regional partners can deter Beijing from taking destabilising initiatives. The analysis concludes that, depending primarily on the evolution of China’s behaviour, Japan may well become directly involved in the South China Sea in the near future.
The book explains Japan’s overbalancing with a neoclassical realist model that combines the literatures on threat perception and civil-military relations. Amid the Manchurian crisis of 1931-1933, as the Japanese government collaborated with the military institution to address the situation in China, military influence on the formulation of foreign policy surged. The perceptual and policy biases of the military, which include the tendency to distrust other countries’ intentions, to adopt worst-case analyses of international dynamics and to strive to maximize military power, gradually penetrated the decision-making process. Dysfunctions in the preexisting structure of Japanese civil-military relations, engendered by an over-depoliticization of the military institution, allowed the navy to convince policymakers that the United States was inherently hostile to Japan, hence the necessity to prepare for war. The government was brainstormed, adopting the biased military perspective on international affairs. Japan overbalanced in a myopic but conscious way.