Histories of the Present: Japan's Contribution with Active vs. Passive Peacemaking

Abstract

These paragraphs from Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution were endorsed by the Japanese Diet on 3 November 1946 and came in to effect on 3 May 1947 with the promulgation of the Constitution. Although the Constitution was drafted by the US during the Allied occupation, the Allied Supreme Commander Douglas MacArthur claimed that Prime Minister Shidehara Kijūrō suggested its inclusion (this has been disputed by some commentators). Whatever the case may have actually been, Article 9 presents to the world a legal document that promotes the concept of peacemaking as an active political statement, with the absence of con៯�ict as a written part of the most fundamental deퟪ�nitions of the nation-state. Show more