Reluctant Remilitarisation
Transforming the Armed Forces in Germany, Italy and Japan After the Cold War
Author: Fabrizio Coticchia, Matteo Dian and Francesco Niccolo Moro
How and why the three losers of the Second World War reconsidered their pacifism, embraced a more active military role and transformed their armed forces after the Cold War
7th December 2025
Paperback
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
How and why the three losers of the Second World War reconsidered their pacifism, embraced a more active military role and transformed their armed forces after the Cold War
Description
While armed forces in several countries underwent deep transformations after the end of the Cold War, few, if any, experienced more radical changes than Germany, Italy and Japan. This book explores how these three countries have modified the posture and structure of their militaries over the past three decades. While each country has had to overcome a pacifist constitution, a widespread view in both elite and public opinion that war was a taboo and armed forces should be designed to defend and deter against large-scale threats, they have all become more active security providers over recent decades.
Each country, however, has followed a distinct path. This book reconstructs these paths to show how a mixture of external and domestic factors affected the pace and the extent of transformations. The book also identifies critical junctures in such processes: any push to change it argues is mediated by the need to come to terms with the cumbersome weight of the past.
Critic Reviews
Reluctant Remilitarization offers a much needed comparative analysis of how the defense policies of Germany, Italy and Japan - three countries with strong anti-militarist traditions - have evolved after the Cold War. Their respective trajectories are marked by continuity and change, shaped by path dependencies and critical junctures, as well as the interplay between external and domestic factors. Shedding light on these processes, the book will be of great value for readers seeking to understand how these three countries have transformed in the turbulent post-Cold War era.-- "Alexandra Sakaki, German Institute for International and Security Affairs"
About the Author
Fabrizio Coticchia is Associate Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political and International Sciences at the University of Genoa, Italy. Matteo Dian is Associate Professor of History and International Relations of East Asia in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna, Italy. Francesco N. Moro is Professor of Political Science in the Department of Political and Social Sciences at the University of Bologna and Adjunct Professor of International Relations at Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe in Bologna, Italy.
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7th December 2025
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