The Use of Armed Forces Abroad: The Legal Framework of Japan

Japanese defence and security law is marked by a tension arising out of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution of 1946, which provides that the Japanese people forever renounce war and that Japan may not maintain a military. Weighing against this “peace clause” are political expectations which for decades have demanded that Japan should keep armed forces at the ready. This tension has given rise to a complex body of statutory law regulating the activities of the Japan Self-Defence Forces, including deployments abroad. Effinowicz critically analyses the defence and security law of Japan and gives a structured account of the legal framework for foreign deployments of the Japan Self-Defence Forces. At the centre of her analysis are the criteria of predictability and responsibility.

Dr Ruth Effinowicz, LLM, MA, studied law at the University of Cologne and the Université Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne) and earned a degree in Japan Studies from the University of Cologne. She has headed the Centre of Expertise on Japan since 2020. She is also supervising editor of the Zeitschrift für Japanisches Recht/Journal of Japanese Law (ZJapanR/J.Japan.L.), a joint publication with the German-Japanese Association of Jurists (DJJV).

Image: © Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law