Center for a New American Security

America’s military intervention in Iraq has catalyzed major changes in the Middle East, but the ramifications of its military campaigns around the world, particularly in Asia, remain understudied. Throughout major capitals in Asia discussions relating to America’s staying power and influence are becoming more pronounced.

Many of these debates are playing out openly in Japan where strategists and policymakers grapple with similar security challenges emanating from North Korea and growing uncertainty regarding China, a resurgent Russia in the greater Asia-Pacific theater, and questions about America’s staying power and commitment to the bilateral alliance. Japan, unlike India and China, has been analyzed through the prism of the Iraq war; however, a majority of these analytic undertakings fail to decipher long-term structural changes that are taking place in Tokyo’s policymaking apparatus.