Article 9 and UN

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to contextualize and explain the relation that exists between Article 9 and the United Nations and to find the main similarities between the them.

In order to do so, I provide an overview on the main historical events that brought to the writing of the Constitution of Japan, and that inspired the pacifist article. While doing this I also stress out the main points in common between Article 9 of the constitution and the United Nations’ Charter. I then discuss the main opinions on the emergence and on the source of the pacifist clause that can be divided into two main thesis, one that sees Article 9 as imposed on Japan and the other that claims it as indigenous. For a better understanding of this part, I also present two figures that had an important part in the drafting of the new Constitution, the Japan’s Prime Minister at the time Shidehara Kijurō and the head of the forces of occupation General MacArthur. I also discuss the role America had in the drafting of Article 9 as well as in some related events and in the institution of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces. In this context, I also deal with how the birth of this forces and their changes in intervention policy affected Japan’s relations with UN, especially with their participation in Peacekeeping Operations. The whole discourse will provide the basis for discussing the interconnection that seems to exist between Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan and United Nations.