Browsing by Subject "alliance"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    Ballistic Missile Defense in Japan: Process-Tracing a Historical Trajectory
    (2014-12-17) Van, Shanelle
    Why did Japan deploy ballistic missile defense when and how it did? The prevailing view characterizes Japan’s BMD decision as a response to North Korea’s 1998 Taepodong missile launch. But “Ballistic Missile Defense in Japan: Process-Tracing a Historical Trajectory” contests this simple assumption of causation. The thesis first pieces together a more comprehensive historical narrative from contemporary sources and interviews with formal officials. Analysis of this newly revised timeline then demonstrates that focusing events like the Taepodong incident were but one of several factors driving BMD; others included alliance pressures, bureaucratic leadership, and defense industry profitability. These findings are more important now than ever as the United States pivots towards Asia and transitions to relying on Japan as an equal military partner. Understanding the history of missile defense in Japan leads to the heart of how and why the United States’ close ally makes its national security decisions, and thus allows both parties to forge a better alliance.
  • Thumbnail Image
    ItemOpen Access
    How Do Foreign Alliances Affect Civil War Onset?
    (2024) Fan, Yong

    Treated as a practical approach to deterrence, foreign alliances are believed to have a tight relationship with the onset of interstate wars. Scholars have paid substantial attention to how foreign alliances affect international security, and how domestic alliances affect domestic security. However, there could be an interaction between elements from interstate and intrastate stages, and we still lack knowledge of the mechanisms and effects. I argue in this paper that, a state can deter the rebel groups within its ally’s territory, thus decreasing the probability of civil war onset of that ally. Like nation-states, rebel groups will also assess the allies’ capability and credibility of the state they fight against to decide whether they will initiate a civil war. However, neither capability nor credibility alone can explain this dynamic. Instead, they amplify each other to prevent the onset of civil war. I find that both capability and credibility have the effect of reducing civil wars, but their effects are strong enough only when the other variable is at its higher value.