The Deterrent Value of U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa: The Case of Futenma
Abstract/Contents
- Abstract
- Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Mike Mansfield once stated: "The U.S.-Japan alliance is the most important bilateral relationship in the world, bar none." It is the primary bilateral security relationship for both the U.S. and Japan. However, since 1996, the Futenma Relocation Issue in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, has cast a shadow on the alliance since 1996, and the back then agreed on return of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Okinawa has yet to be realized. The central government of Japan insists that from a viewpoint of deterrence, the agreed relocation to Henoko in northern Okinawa is the "sole solution". However, there is a contradicting statement by former Prime Minister of Japan Yukio Hatoyama (DPJ), stating that deterrence was “just a pretext” in this context. The aim of this thesis is to shed light on the question of which of these statements is right. The main research question is in how far Okinawa and the Futenma base contribute to deterrence in the context of the U.S.-Japan alliance. Employing the method of qualitative text analysis drawing on official statements on the research question from both the Japanese and the U.S. side, and discussing deterrence theory in the context of the alliance, this thesis concludes that the central government of Japan oversimplifies the complex realities of deterrence in the context of the U.S.-Japan alliance to justify the current Futenma relocation plan to Henoko in the face of the Japanese public. Resistance against the current relocation plan is particularly strong in Okinawa in both the public and the governmental spheres. The finding is that official statements on Okinawa and deterrence are scarce and vague, which begs the question of the substance of any statement on the importance of Futenma for deterrence purposes.
Description
| Type of resource | text |
|---|---|
| Date created | June 2021 |
Creators/Contributors
| Author | Uchima, Mari |
|---|---|
| Primary advisor | Sneider, Daniel |
| Degree granting institution | Stanford University, Stanford Global Studies, Center for East Asian Studies |
Subjects
| Subject | Stanford University |
|---|---|
| Subject | Center for East Asian Studies |
| Subject | U.S.-Japan alliance |
| Subject | Futenma relocation issue |
| Subject | Okinawa |
| Subject | deterrence |
| Subject | extended deterrence |
| Genre | Thesis |
Bibliographic information
| Related Publication | Uchima, Mari. “Why Taiwan Should Pay More Attention to the Futenma Relocation Issue in Okinawa, Japan.” Taiwan Insight, March 4, 2021. https://taiwaninsight.org/2021/03/04/why-taiwan-should-pay-more-attention-to-the-futenma-relocation-issue-in-okinawa-japan/. |
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| Related item | |
| Location | https://purl.stanford.edu/tp673bt2837 |
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- This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 3.0 Unported license (CC BY-NC).
Preferred citation
- Preferred Citation
- Uchima, Mari. (2021). The Deterrent Value of U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa: The Case of Futenma. Stanford Digital Repository. Available at: https://purl.stanford.edu/tp673bt2837
Collection
Stanford Center for East Asian Studies Thesis Collection
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- Contact
- mari.uchima1@gmail.com
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