ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how both domestic and international norms affected Japan’s peacekeeping policy in the post-Cold War period. Focusing on the interaction and struggle between domestic and international norms, the chapter argues that the gap between Japan’s domestic and international standards continues to exist. The chapter observes that an evolving United Nations approach to conflict management in the post-Cold War period encouraged Japan to expand its degree of participation in peacekeeping activities by revising current law. However, the domestic norm that prohibits using force operated as a stumbling block in expanding Japan’s role in United Nations Peacekeeping Operations. Although the international trend towards robust peacekeeping missions urged Japan to expand its role in such missions, the regulative effect of the domestic norm framed the decision-making process by limiting their expansion.
