ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 adopts Cox’s social forces analysis in considering the material, institutional and ideational elements of the US‒Japan alliance, focusing on a deepening bilateral alliance relationship between the two countries. Deploying social forces analysis, this chapter scrutinises material, institutional and ideational aspects of the US-led historic bloc in the Asia-Pacific region in the context of managing the US‒Japan bilateral alliance. Specifically, it examines military aspects of the alliance to explore how it has developed over time, illustrating this development with specific examples of alliance management and looking into the roles of Japanese institutions since the end of the Cold War.
