Build up of Strategic Studies for National
Defense
by Naruhiko UEDA
Executive Director of DRC
1. Foreword
2. Basic Concept for National Defense Strategy
3. Ideal of Strategic Studies for National Defense
4. Several Problems for Practice of Strategic Studies
5. Concrete Measures for Realization of Strategic Studies
6. Cultivation of Researchers for Strategic Studies
7. Funding and Organization of Strategic Studies
8. Conclusion
1. Foreword
It is very sad that the terrorism war broke out in the USA and caused many victims and much damage internationally in 2001. And also it opened the eyes of most of Japanese to recognize the political confusion caused by the lack of National Defense Strategy which had for a long time, been negated after the WWU and to feel the necessity of immediate reaction of Japanese Government to national emergency. The prime minister Koizumi's decisive measures have earned high international acclaim. But in Japan nowadays many important issues remain to be addressed: for example, how to build up the national defense strategy and how to generate the defense policy. Why is it that in Japan the actual long-term policy and strategic measures are ineffective, while there are many sections or individuals who think about national defense strategy in the government organizations? In this paper the present status is analyzed frankly and how to promote the future progress is discussed.
2. Basic
Concept for National Defense Strategy
More than half a century after the WWUand when the national security policy is the most important, the basic concept for national defense in Japan, including the National Diet debates, the government measures and the people's awareness, remain at a poor level compared with most of the countries in the would. For every emergency in Japan, the government reactions were delayed and were temporary actions only to suit the occasion: for example, the Taepo-dong missile shot over Japan without notice four years ago, frequent appearances of suspicious boats in the surrounding seas, and the Japanese reaction to the 9.11 terrorism in the USA. It is needed to think from these today's lessons, how to build up the national defense strategy from the viewpoint of long-term establishment of national security strategy.
There are several reasons why Japan lacks strategy today. Every reason is based on
Today the Japanese economy is still at a low level and no recovery is forecasted. This may be related to the lack of strategic thinking in Japan. Nowadays all the Japanese realize the lack of national strategy for half a century and needs of establishment of directive strategy suitable for the world situation, to which the government policy must actively proceed. The national strategy will be composed of many elements including economy, but in particular the defense strategy is a very important core element to confirm the long-term future direction and short-term defense policy, to be studied by sufficient amount of research works.
It is important to overcome the obstacles to reflect on why Japan has taken for a long time only short-sighted view without long-term strategy, as the following.
EReason @ of lack of strategy
During the past half a century, the security situation surrounding
EReasonA of lack of strategy
Most of the Japanese has some vague sense that the governmental controls and military priorities are bad, and that everything must be under no restriction in the democratic society today. Then the Diet members or the government officers do not have the concern actively to keep the national interest, even at the sacrifice of partial objection or some damage, with due compensations. They do not want to lose support and to be out of office by pursuing the national interest eagerly. Inevitably they argue for such a long time, that when some of the national interest is realized at last, the effects are already much reduced. Such Japanese thinking is not suitable for strategic thinking.
EReasonB of lack of strategy
In Japan the defense issues are always a sensitive matter for the struggle for political power. The debates at the Diet mostly concern not actual defense power and effects but only legislative matters including selection of word. In a word, in Japan for last half a century there were no real thinking and no effective reaction for national security based on real debates about defense strategy. Always the steady thinking just like locking the stable door after horse is stolen are dominant and, on the other hand, the steady thinking with the strategic analysis is overlooked. Thus the Japan's credibility gap is amplified in international society and it exerts a bad influence on her economic recovery also.
4.Reason C of lack of strategy
Even if some knowledgeable people come to recognize that there is no
essential strategy in Japan or there is no effective debate on defense strategy
at the Diet, another practical problem is how to build up the effective
strategy. In other words, whether the government owns the
brains which are needed to establish the concrete strategy, unlike the former
theoretical or hypothetical issues of
5. Reason D of lack of strategy
Originally the national defense strategy must be supported by the people's agreement. In Japan today there is no proper effort to build up national consensus because of over-anticipation of people's objection for defense strategy itself. So, beyond the issue only whether there is the need for defense of Japan or not, and how to confirm the compensation of the public sacrifice if war broke out, there is not yet national defense strategy that consistently indicates the future direction about Japan's way of defense effort. Because of the lack of open policy to show to the people international security situation and each country's reaction plainly based on fair public studies, most of the people suspect the defense policy that there may be some concealed matters, amplifying the thought that every government policy should be objected. Thus the long-term strategic thinking has been stopped.
Because many international factors relate to the national defense,
national strategy must greatly concern the international situation and major
country's reactions. And it is the people who must
finally select or decide their own strategy, but today the information flow is
insufficient and national consensus is not yet reached in
3. Ideal of
Strategic Studies for National Defense
The purpose of the research for defense strategy is completely different from writing academic papers, although there are some relations with each other. The defense strategy research must be focused on how to keep the national security, based on the international relations in practice. Different from the private research paper writing process, to establish the national strategy needs appropriate research system and evaluation system.
First, the research for national defense strategy is needed by the nation. So it is important that the nation must support the system which provides the research works to make better strategy. In Japan if the government provides fund to study strategy, everything from study contents and staffing affairs will receive governmental control and intervention. So the result of the research will be biased; this must be carefully avoided. In Japan, it is better for the research organization occupy the position out of the government, for example, public foundation of half-government and half-private character.
For the research of national defense strategy the government budget must be used with carefully avoiding the selection and emphasis of one-sided purpose for the good of the existing order only. This must be checked by assigned expert in outside for the fair evaluation.
Next, for the practical research system the researcher's mental attitude, nature and the reward are important factors. The strategic research will be produced by combination, comparison and choice from plural results through much debate. It is different from the academic papers based on the creative interest. These points must be well known by the researchers. The most of the researchers for strategic research will be the persons who have accumulated by himself much practical experience in the defense field with critical concern, and who have creative capability in variety of fields for establishment of the strategy.
Each researcher must have expert view for national defense and capability to judge defense matters by consolidated thinking, and at the some time, avoiding the stove pipe thinking. Discarding the academic clique, distinction of liberal art and science, and separation of operation and technology in younger days as the custom peculiar to Japan, the person who has insight capability for national interest and national security with open mind is needed. To begin with such kind of research system must be understood and supported.
The third pillar of research system is free atmosphere to study, including hypothetical matter or any failure example in earlier stage of research discussion, to obtain the real strategic research. However, up to present, the thinking object has been limited inside the safety zone, only to keep to the easy conservative policy.
In most of the advanced countries, the Japanese thinking system will be accused as a non-productive and a obstacle for the future development, as a parallel to the making of private interest or sectional benefit in ambiguity gaps. It is good for Japan that recently some change in the old situation is observed; the strategic researches which decide nation's destiny must be positioned as an important public asset.
4. Several
Problems for Practice of Strategic Studies
There are several problems at the initial stage to carry out the research for strategy by appropriate researchers.
First, for the Japanese national strategy it is needed to think always in relation to the international standard in security matters. At the beginning it is needed to think the national security with the knowledge of outside of Japan including possible hostile countries. For these purposes, visiting the foreign countries to see and find out their historical matters and today's situation are very important to find out clearly the Japan's future direction. Each researcher must be capable of at least English conversation without interpreter at visiting sites.
Second, parallel to the language capability it is important to possess general knowledge of fundamental national security, and have expert view in some area which can be made public. This means they may be expected at the visits to exchange enough information and to build confidence with each other.
Third, for all the researchers it is needed that they have ability to think national security not in narrow expertise but also in coordination with all related social matters including economy, technology and so on. And all the researchers should have cooperative mind with each other to cope with the people to lesson their Japanese allergy to the military.
Fourth, same as all other research works, the long term-thinking must be made by step-by-step composition of result, in balancing with today's problems. In the research work the driving force is of course the researcher's belief supported by many objective facts; tricky thinking and evasive answers only lead to confusion. The research organization must encourage above atmosphere among all the researchers.
Finally, all the research and the organization to concern the national strategy must be neutral for political matters and avoid the specific theory from a specific political party. When they are asked some part of the research result, the fair answer must be made every time, and also the researcher's status must be guaranteed.
5. Concrete
Measures for Realization of Strategic Studies
To put forward the strategic studies effectively the concrete measures may be divided into research operation and research administration to be considered.
Most important thing in performing the research operation for the national strategy is how to get out of the existing concept and how to set up a creative one. Based on the free thinking and following group discussion the modern strategy must be established that is not merely the extension of the past period.
For this purpose all the researchers should have daily critical concern to think, wright and speak the opinion by himself continuously to the public, considering foreign countries' strategy example and Japanese people's understanding level. The research organization must support such kind of measures to make effective and creative research.
Based on these individual studies, it is important that frequent group discussion should be made, for the confirmation of the strategic thinking by building up the contents, rejecting the misunderstanding and organizing the different approach. Then at the outside discussion including in foreign country the basic or extended view will be more confirmed and each researcher must be more ambitious to study.
In the administration aspect, it is very important that the chief of administration group must be an experienced person for research works, otherwise the administration which has to support effectively the research works would fall into only the work to keep the administration group in existence. In Japan sometimes the researchers are separated from the surrounding situation, research status, role, budget and use of the results, because of too much narrow concern in the study only.
So that the research of strategy is performed along with the long-term forecast, the research administration is to be performed by the long-term project including the budget, researcher's personal information, researcher selection and grouping, assignment of research group leader and their selection, etc. For external matters, there are reports to the government supervisor, contracted research documentation, clerical work for requested education, taxation, board of directors meeting and approval of measure for research related matters etc.
To make the studies more complete, it will be important to visit foreign institutes for strategic studies to discuss about the common theme. So the setting up of visiting schedules and receiving the visitors from the foreign countries are important works as a mix of research operation and administration.
6.
Cultivation of Researchers for Strategic Studies
The research for national strategy has very wide objects from theoretical matters to actual defense operation. So the researcher must have experience in the past days on defense works and have many critical concerns to improved it by the researcher's own enthusiasm. One of the ideal methods to perform the research is to select the retired people from the Defense Services who have experienced expertise and wish to continue their work. In this case a would-be researcher candidate must make an effort, along with his daily works, to accumulate and to keep in his brain the defense experience and strategic problem. How to keep the critical concern clearly and for a long time until his retirements is critical.
The research for strategy does not concern only the narrow expertise
as science or liberal arts, but the wide thinking based on experience and
variety of knowledge. These researches include some theoretical part but the
result is not only theory itself. To cultivate the researcher it is important
to understand by himself that the research is one of the practical science based on the world situation, domestic critical
problems and essential research for
From the viewpoint of cultivation of future researchers, it is important to send the candidate to the outside, especially to the post-graduate course of university in his young days. The theme may not be a strategic one, but any of the expertise will cultivate in some area the experience of how the creative research produces the result and how to accelerate the research.
Nowadays, the average lifetime is, more than eighty years, so the most of people work after the retirement age of sixty years. For the ten years after the retirement, it is very important to select the knowledgeable people as researchers who have much experience and capability to think profoundly. These activities are contribution to the society and will maintain the aged people's mental health for a long time.
7. Funding
and Organization of Strategic Studies
The fund for strategy research must be provided by the government, because the state has responsibility to keep the national security. In Japan the governmental provision of funding usually constrains the research result for some restricted purpose only. However the research for national strategy need free thinking at the initial stage. To make effective research, some implicit rule is needed for the research by the government fund to keep the free thinking and to guarantee the voluntary position of the research to make better result in the future. In another word, the strategy researcher requires high morals as well as confidence in the government and some fund margin to pursuit the high brain work.
Another idea to prepare the fund is that the strategy research is always for the sake of the public benefit, so the organizations in the society including the government should donate the fund for the research, but under severe auditing to avoid scandals. It will be effective to lead not only from the national strategy but also from the economic and industrial sides from the viewpoint of future new world situation, in separation from today's situation.
8.
Conclusion
The national security capability is the product of the real defense power and the national strategy. Now in Japan the former is mostly satisfactory, but the latter is at a very poor level compared with the world standard level. It is invisible in peace time, but the lack of strategy is betrayed at the Diet debate even more than half a century after the end of the WWöU. In some cases the minimum national interests may not be maintained. Now it is a very serious subject under such a critical situation how to establish the fundamental strategy which will be supported by the most of the people.
References
1. "Several Problems of Setting up the National Security Strategy" by Naruhiko UEDA,
Senior Executive Director of DRC, DRC Annual Report AR-2, p.65, October 1998
2. "Ideal Way of Strategic Studies for National Defense Policy Building" by Naruhiko UEDA,
Senior Executive Director of DRC, DRC Annual Report AR-3, p.49, September 1999
3. "The Think Tank for National Defense in Japan" by Naruhiko UEDA, Senior Executive
Director of DRC, DRC Annual Report AR-4, p.49, September 2000
Contents