Drawing upon case study material and primary research, including interviews with officials and security analysts, the book presents a chronological analysis of Japan's sea lane security.

This is the first major English-language study to explore the broad and longstanding connections between Japan’s national security and the safety of its sea lanes. Tracing issues from pre-and post-1945 eras, the book explores how Japan’s concerns with sea lane protection have developed across such diverse fields as military strategy, diplomacy, trade policy, energy security, and law enforcement. Drawing upon case study material and primary research including interviews with officials and security analysts, the book presents a chronological analysis of Japan’s sea lane security. While Japan’s security policies have recently undergone relatively rapid change, a historical treatment of sea lane security issues reveals long-term continuity in security policymakers’ perceptions and responses regarding Japan's defence and foreign policy. Revealing a neglected but important aspect of Japan’s military and economic security, the book investigates why officials and analysts continue to portray the defence of Japan’s sea lanes as ‘a matter of life and death’.

Japan, the geopolitical lynchpin in the East Asian region, has developed a unique maritime security policy and interpretation of the law of the sea. Japanese Maritime Security and the Law of the Sea examines Japan’s domestic laws and its approach to international law.

The first work of its kind, this strategic assessment of China's national security reveals the nation's intentions, capabilities, and threats—and their implications for the United States and the world. As China continues to develop the strategic means to advance its national interests in Asia and around the world, assessing its role in international security is the greatest strategic challenge now faced by the United States and its allies. China and International Security facilitates this critically important understanding, analyzing topics that range from strategic geography and orientation to gender ratios. Using detailed case studies and sharing expert insights, the work provides historical, internal, and contemporary analyses that reveal the nature and character of China's national security. This three-volume set is written for scholars, students, and policymakers. The volumes offer in-depth articles penned by intelligence professionals and journalists, as well as entries by scholars in fields as diverse as international politics, history, and strategic studies. While other works may attempt to predict the future of China's rise or the nature of China's future bilateral relationships, none so thoroughly examines the totality of China's domestic, regional, and international security—and their implications.

"As we celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue Partnership, the essays in this book remind us, and amplify the ASEAN-Japan relations. The complexities of this relationship, including the external influences which have impinged on its development over the years, are cogently discussed and recorded for the younger generation and students of ASEAN-Japan ties. The intricacy and spread of ASEAN-Japan cooperation mechanisms are also well highlighted in this book, while several thought-provoking commentaries on the future of this four-decade old partnership give pause to the readers. Many of the challenges that exist in this relationship originated from domestic political dynamics in the ASEAN countries and Japan, as well as from the neighbouring states and key trading partners." - Ambassador Ong Keng Yong, Former ASEAN Secretary General "The monograph on ASEAN-Japan relations is the intellectual highlight of the 40 years anniversary of ASEAN-Japan cooperation. ASEAN has become an indispensable partner and friend of Japan and its role as the hub of cooperation, development and stability in the region will without doubt become even more important after the establishment of the ASEAN Communities in 2015. The monograph containing contributions of the most renowned and respected experts on ASEAN provides us with enlightening overview, inspiration as well as guidance for our future common path. I would like to recommend this monograph to everybody interested in the further deepening of the ASEAN-Japan relations." -Ambassador Yoshinori Katori, Ambassador of Japan to Indonesia, Former Ambassador in charge of ASEAN

Processes of globalization have changed the world in many, often fundamental, ways. Increasingly these processes are being debated and contested. This Handbook offers a timely, rich as well as critical panorama of these multifaceted processes with up-to-date chapters by renowned specialists from many countries. It comprises chapters on the historical background of globalization, different geographical perspectives (including world systems analysis and geopolitics), the geographies of flows (of people, goods and services, and capital), and the geographies of places (including global cities, clusters, port cities and the impact of climate change).

Japan faces significant challenges in both traditional and non-traditional areas of national security policy as the economic resurgence of China and the loss of US hegemonic clout significantly transform the strategic landscape of the Asia-Pacific region. How is Japan coping with this new global and regional politico-security environment? What strategic moves has it taken to best position itself for the future to maximize its global and regional influence? More importantly, how is Japan perceived within the region by traditionally close regional partners such as the US and Australia, by supporters in Southeast Asia, and by new competitors -- most prominently China and India? What international role do these nations wish Japan to play? In this comprehensive volume, these crucial questions are explored in-depth by a group of scholars both distinguished and diverse.