It’s time to think boldly about Canada–Japan security cooperation

Date01 September 2019
Published date01 September 2019
DOI10.1177/0020702019875835
Subject MatterPolicy Brief
Policy Brief
It’s time to think boldly
about Canada–Japan
security cooperation
David A Welch
University of Waterloo, Balsillie School of International
Affairs – Political Science, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
Abstract
Policy-makers, scholars, and commentators regularly remark upon the unrealized
potential of Canada–Japan cooperation, but neither countr y has taken decisive steps
to address it. This reticence is especially noticeable in the security realm. As friendly,
like-minded countries with common values, a common vision of international order, and
strongly shared security interests in an increasingly tumultuous world, Canada and Japan
would be expected to strengthen security ties in meaningful ways. Recent (relatively
minor) steps in this direction are welcome. But the time is ripe for the two countries to
cement their security partnership through a series of bolder measures ultimately leading
to formal alliance.
Keywords
Canada–Japan relations, Canadian foreign policy, Canadian defence policy, Asia-Pacific
security, alliances
It has become commonplace to remark upon both the unrealized potential of
Canada–Japan relations and the perennial failure to address it.
1
To some extent,
this is simply a function of inertia, the initial condition and default expectation in
international politics.
2
No doubt it is also in part a function of geographical dis-
tance and the fact that relations between these two countries are generally good.
International Journal
2019, Vol. 74(3) 445–452
!The Author(s) 2019
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0020702019875835
journals.sagepub.com/home/ijx
Corresponding author:
David A Welch, University of Waterloo, Balsillie School of International Affairs – Political Science, 67 Erb
Street West, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 6C2, Canada.
Email: dawelch@uwaterloo.ca
1. I would like to thank Joseph Caron, Paul Evans, Brian Job, Tsuyoshi Kawasaki, participants in the
16th Canada–Japan Symposium on Peace and Security Cooperation, and participants in the 2019
Japan–Canada Academic Consortium Student Forum for their helpful comments on earlier drafts
of this paper.
2. David A. Welch, Painful Choices: A Theory of Foreign Policy Change (Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press, 2005).

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