Summary of the lecture by Yuki Abe June 26, 2025

Difference in the Same Norm: Antimilitarism in Germany and Japan Reconsidered

Yuki Abe (Associate Professor, Kumamoto University)

On June 26, 2025, Yuki Abe, Associate Professor at Kumamoto University, gave a presentation about his research on antimilitarism in Germany and Japan.

Prof. Abe began his presentation by explaining the antimilitarist norms that constrain the use of military forces in Japan and Germany. While antimilitarist norms in those countries are similar, he emphasized that the two countries share different norms regarding civilian control over the military. Whereas civilian control is achieved through political oversight in Germany, it is done by civilian bureaucrats in Japan.

Prof. Abe explained that his research investigates why the two countries adopted different civilian control policies. The existing explanations do not adequately address this puzzle.

The Kumamoto University professor argued that different levels of threat perceptions in Germany and Japan played a role. While many in the German and Japanese public initially opposed the reestablishment of military forces after regaining independence, the two countries faced different levels of threat, leading their publics to develop divergent attitudes toward the necessity of the military. Whereas the German public largely accepted the inevitability of rearmament due to a high threat perception of the Soviet Union, a low threat perception led the majority of the Japanese public to dismiss the importance of rearmament. The differences have rendered German antimilitarism a “compromised” norm—as many of those who initially opposed rearmament eventually accepted it—while the Japanese one developed as an “uncompromised” norm. The distinct nature of antimilitarist norms in those countries led to political civilian control of the military in Germany and bureaucratic civilian control in Japan.

To conclude his presentation, Prof. Abe explained that his research has implications for understanding the linkage between norms and threats, the emergence of norms through political compromise, and the nature of antimilitarist norms in Japan and Germany today.

The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session. The audience asked many questions, including those regarding Prof. Abe’s theory of compromised and uncompromised norms, the impact of the Trump presidency on Japan’s antimilitarism, and Japan’s current security policy.