This paper investigates three bilateral relationships in Northeast Asia between Japan and the following countries: the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the Russian...Show moreThis paper investigates three bilateral relationships in Northeast Asia between Japan and the following countries: the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Republic of Korea (ROK), and the Russian Federation. It analyzes factors which enable or complicate confidence-building measures (CBMs) in these relationships to argue that there are stark differences between them. These differences are traced through a historical analysis of factors such as power relations, strategic considerations, attributional distance, regime stability, and public opinion. To position itself critically within literature on confidence-building measures, this paper also examines the role of territorial disputes in bilateral confidence-building. On this topic, it concludes that these types of conflicts do not limit CBMs altogether, but that they act as focal points for the aforementioned factors.Show less
This thesis examines Prime Minister Abe’s domestic and international speeches concerning the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute between Japan and China by utilizing framing theory. It was examined how...Show moreThis thesis examines Prime Minister Abe’s domestic and international speeches concerning the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute between Japan and China by utilizing framing theory. It was examined how the actions of China in the conflicts were attributed with meaning through framed by PM Abe as representing a threat to Japan in order to securitize the Japanese pacifist identity as not sufficient for the defense of Japan today. Framing analysis yields a notion that the Japanese pacifist Self is challenged from within by utilizing a variety of frames related to Japan’s domestic constructions towards China and the U.S. In addition, the Japanese democratic nature and other norms are also participant in the frames identified here.Show less
Advanced master thesis | Political Science (Advanced Master)
open access
States can choose to cooperate, delay or escalate their territorial disputes, but there is a lack of understanding of strategy behind each choice. In this study, Russian territorial disputes are...Show moreStates can choose to cooperate, delay or escalate their territorial disputes, but there is a lack of understanding of strategy behind each choice. In this study, Russian territorial disputes are looked at using the theory of omnibalancing and the theory of preventive warfare, theories which have already been applied by Taylor Fravel in his analysis of the Chinese territorial disputes. The results of this research show that Fravel’s approach can explain a slight majority of Russia’s cases, but the explanatory power could be increased by changing certain premises of his theory.Show less
