War is peace: the rearticulation of ‘peace’ in Japan’s China discourse

Content Provider	Scilit
Author	Hagström, Linus Hanssen, Ulv
Copyright Year	2015
Description	This article demonstrates that a national identity defined by a normative commitment to peace is not necessarily an antidote to remilitarisation and war. More specifically, the article takes issue with the debate about the trajectory of Japan’s security and defence policy. One strand of the debate holds that Japan is normatively committed to peace while the other claims that Japan is in the process of remilitarising. This article argues that the two positions are not mutually exclusive – a point that has been overlooked in the literature. The article uses discourse analysis to trace how ‘peace’ was discussed in debates about China in the Japanese Diet in 1972 and 2009–12. It demonstrates how rearticulations by right wing discourses in the latter period have depicted peace as something that must be defended actively, and thus as compatible with remilitarisation or military normalisation. Japan’s changing peace identity could undermine rather than stabilise peaceful relations with its East Asian neighbours.
Related Links	https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/90F27319AB33F62C2F8531783742D14B/S0260210515000157a.pdf/div-class-title-war-is-peace-the-rearticulation-of-peace-in-japan-s-china-discourse-div.pdf
Ending Page	286
Page Count	21
Starting Page	266
ISSN	02602105
e-ISSN	14699044
DOI	10.1017/s0260210515000157
Journal	Review of International Studies
Issue Number	2
Volume Number	42
Language	English
Publisher	Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Publisher Date	2016-04-01
Access Restriction	Open
Subject Keyword	Review of International Studies International Relations Political Science
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Sociology and Political Science Political Science and International Relations