Volume 28, Number 4, 1997

EN:

Since the end of 1950s, the Japanese nuclear policy has consisted in keeping the legal option open for the development of the "defensive" nuclear weapons and maintaining a nuclear potential. The motivation of this" open nuclear option" of Japan would be mainly the development of the nuclear force of China. The us retreat of all the ground-launched and submarine-launched tactical nuclear weapons in 1991 implied the end of the age of dependence on tactical nuclear weapons for "war-fighting" in Asia. The conventional deterrence would already be sufficient for maintaining the stability of the East Asia. The mission of the extended nuclear deterrence of the United States could be reduced to Us vital role for countering only the nuclear attack of other country, not for any conventional attack. The controversies about the "antimissile defense" have influenced the security relationship between China and Japan. The important strategic significance of the antimissile defense for Beijing would be that a strategy of the first strike against China would be easier to consider. A theater missile defense in Japan would be less challenging for China and would be useful against the threat of missiles from North Korea. Nonetheless, a strategic missile defense could have a destabilizing impact on Sino-Japanese security relations. The Japanese nuclear policy would be a hind of "recessive deterrence" which operates by the potential and the possibility of developing nuclear weapons. The nuclear crisis in Korea provides a chance to observe the working dynamic of this deterrence. Owing to the worry about the nuclear proliferation of Japan, Tokyo finds it appropriate to ask Beijing to prevent the nuclear development of the North Korea and to maintain the credibility of the extended deterrence of the United States.

EN:

The purpose of this article is to shed new light on the issue of drug trafficking in the Americas. Specifically its objective is to demonstrate that the perception of drug trafficking as a national security threat is only one aspect of a much more complex socio-political phenomenon. First, this paper presents the multilateral mechanisms that serve as a frame work to facilitate regional cooperation on drug matters. It goes on to analyze the different approaches of regional drug trafficking. It concludes that a much more flexible approach is needed to gain an in-depth understanding of drug politics in the Americas.

EN:

Since the objective of the European Union is to be closer to Us citizens, the Treaty of Amsterdam contributes to the development and the significance of the European citizenship. Through a neo-liberal perspective, it strengthens, in both national and community levels, the compromise between democratic values, such as social justice and equity principle, and economic liberalism. While the social dimension of the European citizenship is reinforced, the specific rights provided only to Union's citizens are, however, marginalized. In order to explain this situation, the paper will first present the implications of the European citizenship, and then, analyze the main provisions of the draft treaty related to a stronger relationship between the Union and Us citizens.

EN:

This article seeks to illustrate how security considerations impact upon trade policy-making. In contrast to interpretations derived from hegemonic stability theory, this paper suggests that the shift from a bipolar to a multipolar world in the 1980s caused growing relative gains concerns within the Western alliance. Comparative analysis of American trade decisions in regard to the machine-tool industry shows that the change of decision between 1982 and 1986 regarding protection of the industry resulted from a change in political coalitions surrounding the demand of protection, which was caused by a transformation in the perception of national security. It is suggested that this uncertainty regarding the distribution of gains from trade is linked to the turn to unilateralism in American trade policy during the same period.