World Political History and Japan's Foreign Policy (1945-Present)

Flashcards for vocabulary review of World Political History and Japan's Foreign Policy since 1945.

Political History since 1945

Three distinct eras: Cold War Era (1945-1991), Post-Cold War Era (1991-2021), and a potential Second Cold War (2022-present).

Allied Powers in WWII

United States, United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union.

Axis Powers in WWII

Germany, Italy, Japan, Finland, and Romania.

NATO vs. War Pact Organization

Military alliances during the Cold War; the Western bloc led by the United States and the Eastern bloc led by the Soviet Union.

Non-Aligned Movement

Organization of developing countries that did not align with either the Western or Eastern bloc.

Organization associated with the Non-Aligned Movement

UNCTAD

China in 1949

Mao Zedong's Communist Party took power, while Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang fled to Taiwan.

Three Largest Cold War Confrontations

Korean War (1950-1953), Cuban Missile Crisis (1962), and Vietnam War (1959-1970).

Casualties in the Korean War

North Korea: 1.5 million, South Korea: 1 million

Casualties in the Vietnam War

North Vietnam: 1 million, South Vietnam: 0.7 million, United States: 60,000

Détente

A period of relaxed tensions during the late 1970s.

Mikhail Gorbachev

Introduced Perestroika (restructuring) and Glasnost (openness) in the Soviet Union.

Key Events of 1989

Tiananmen Square Incident and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

1991

The USSR divided into 15 countries, marking the end of the Cold War.

Post-Cold War Alliances

NATO (led by the United States) and CSTO (led by Russia).

Gulf War (1990-1991)

Saddam Hussein of Iraq invading Kuwait, leading to intervention by Allied forces led by the United States.

Yugoslav Wars (1990-1995)

Death of Josip Tito leading to ethnic cleansing and the Dayton Agreement.

Major event during the Yugoslav Wars

Ethnic Cleansing

Somalian Civil War (1991-Present)

A conflict since 1991 that has resulted in 1 million casualties and 4 million displaced people.

Rwandan Civil War (1994)

Conflict between Hutu and Tutsi groups.

Post-Cold War Crisis #5

Terrorism by al-Qaeda

Terrorism by al-Qaeda

9/11 attacks

Result of the Middle East post 9/11

The Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.

Hegemonic War

War between United states and China

Atomic Bombs dropped to Hiroshima and Nagasaki

August 6 & 9, 1945

August 15, 1945

Japan accepted the 'Potsdam Declaration'.

August 28 - September 5, 1945

The Soviet Union captured the Northern Territories.

SCAP

The Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

SCAP wanted to at the beginning (1945-1947)

Democratize Japan

1947

Japanese Constitution was enacted

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution

Renunciation of War

"Reverse Course"

The change in the United States policy toward Japan during the post-World War II reconstruction.

1945-1947 SCAP's Policy

De-militarization of Japan

1947-1952 SCAP's Policy

Militarization of Japan

Japan's Defense in 1950s

Japan-US Security Treaty was signed and Self Defense Force (SDF) was established.

1952 - San Francisco Peace Treaty

The End of U.S. Occupation

December 18, 1956

Japan was allowed to join the United Nations.

1989 - 2000

Japan's ODA (Official Development Assistance) was #1 in the world.

Feature #1 of Japan's Defense

1% GDP ceiling

PM Kishida announced in 2022

Increase the defense budget from 1% to 2% by 2027.

Feature #3

US Military Presence (about 40,000) in Japan

"Echelon"

global spy system that can capture and analyze virtually every phone call, fax, email and telex message sent anywhere in the world.

Feature #5

Issue of Host Nation Support

Japan’s Policy on Nuclear Weapons

Non-Nuclear Principles

Three Non-Nuclear Principles

Japan shall neither possess nor manufacture nuclear weapons, nor shall it permit their introduction into Japanese territory.