Reluctant remilitarisation

• Department of Political and Social Sciences

In this International Relations Working Group session, Fabrizio Coticchia, Matteo Dian, and Francesco Niccolò Moro will present their recently published book on military transformation in Italy, Germany, and Japan after the Second World War.

How and why the three losers of the Second World War reconsidered their pacifism, embraced a more active military role and transformed their armed forces after the Cold War? The book provides an analysis of the process of military transformation in Italy, Germany and Japan and addresses the impact of historical legacies on the pacing and direction of transformation. The three authors look at the transformation of military doctrine and force structure over three decades and assess the impact of different external and internal factors in military transformation. The book explores how the three countries modified posture and structure of their militaries over the past three decades. While the three countries all had to overcome a pacifist constitution, a widespread view – in both elites and public opinion – that war was a taboo, and armed forces designed to defend and deter against large-scale threats, they all became more active security providers over the last decades. Each country followed a distinct path, though. The book reconstructs these paths, trying to show how a mix of external and domestic factors affected the pace and the extent of transformations. The book also identifies critical junctures in such process: any push to change – it is argued – is mediated by the need to come to terms with the cumbersome weight of the past. 

The Zoom link will be shared upon registration.