Tag - constitution

 
 

CONSTITUTION

JAPAN
Jun 30, 2014
Most Japanese voters oppose security shift
Half of Japanese voters oppose dropping a ban that has kept the military from fighting abroad since World War II, a survey showed on Monday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe readied a landmark shift in security policy that would ease the constraints of the pacifist constitution on the armed forces. A third...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 27, 2014
'Reinterpreting' Article 9 endangers Japan's rule of law
The most serious problem with the recommendations of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's advisory panel on reinterpreting Article 9 of the Consititution is that they reflect a result-oriented analysis driven by national security imperatives rather than constitutional law principles.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 24, 2014
Abe offers concession on collective defense
The Abe administration gave some ground Tuesday to New Komeito in the ninth round of the coalition defense talks, offering tougher conditions before Japan would be allowed to exercise the long-prohibited right to collective self-defense.
COMMENTARY / Japan / COUNTERPOINT
Jun 21, 2014
Abe hijacks democracy, undermines Constitution
By short-circuiting the democratic process, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is abusing the trust put in him by the people. His initiative to reinterpret Article 9 of the Constitution to lift constraints on the Japanese military and permit collective self-defense is the most recent example of how Abe is trampling...
EDITORIALS
Jun 18, 2014
New Komeito shouldn't cave in
New Komeito's most important party ideal — pacifism — is being tested by the Abe administration's efforts to allow Japan to engage in collective self-defense.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 17, 2014
Abe team presents draft statement on collective self-defense
The Abe administration has tabled a draft statement that could allow Japan to effectively exercise the right to collective self-defense, but the ruling coalition remains divided.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jun 14, 2014
One woman's mark on the nation's Constitution
In December 2012, 89-year-old Beate Sirota Gordon knew she was dying. The women's rights advocate and tireless promoter of cross-cultural exchange in the arts was ill at home in the New York borough of Manhattan. Yet, she pulled herself out of bed one morning, dressed formally and sat in a chair to await...
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 11, 2014
Abe bulldozes over DPJ in self-defense debate
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe once again underlined the necessity of reinterpreting the war-renouncing Constitution to allow Japan to engage in collective self-defense during a debate Wednesday, while the main opposition leader failed to capitalize on the opportunity to attack Abe and roll back his influence...
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 10, 2014
LDP seeks defense deal by Friday
Unless the ruling coalition strikes a deal this week, Cabinet will be unable to approve the use of collective self-defense during the current Diet session, a senior Liberal Democratic Party minister says.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Jun 10, 2014
Tensions mount over security talks
A showdown looms as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pressures the ruling coalition to agree to overhaul Japan's pacifist security stance, possibly as early as Friday.
EDITORIALS
Jun 10, 2014
A slippery slope to combat
The Abe administration's modifications of its proposed new conditions for the Self-Defense Forces to take part in overseas missions would still pave the way for the SDF to operate in combat areas, thus raising the risk of Japan being drawn into armed conflict.
COMMENTARY / Japan / SENTAKU MAGAZINE
Jun 10, 2014
Abe treading on lions' tails
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe tendency to stumble in building allied support whenever he makes an aggressive move appears most conspicious of late with his efforts to have Japan exercise its right to collective self-defense and to reform farm policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 6, 2014
Let Japan help defend America — and itself
The growing risk that Washington will be drawn into a confrontation with Beijing over parochial issues in East Asia will go down as soon as Japan takes greater responsibility for its own defense and that of its allies, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe proposes.
JAPAN / Politics
Jun 3, 2014
Officials push to scrap limits on SDF missions
The Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner, New Komeito, discuss whether to overhaul limits on the Self-Defense Forces.

Longform

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