ABSTRACT
This chapter presents Karl Deutsch’s concept of the security community, as well as the constructivist arguments concerning the security community of Wendt, Adler and Barnett, and Cronin as theoretical supplements to Deutsch’s concept. This study hypothesizes that there is a US-Japan collective identity when referring to community of practice, and changes in self–other relations. This chapter then presents Cronin’s “two ways” approach method to detect a collective identity; the first way is to examine the nature of discourse between these two countries. The most certain sign of a collective identity is for the United States and Japan to adopt a new concept or vocabulary that would then be publicly articulated. The second way is to analyze the behaviors of the United States and Japan. We must determine whether they behave in a manner consistent with their identities in circumstances where they would otherwise not be expected to do so.
