Wilhelm VosseInternational Christian University · Department of Politics and International Studies
Wilhelm Vosse
Professor
Research projects on cyber diplomacy, cyber capacity building, and EU-Japan security relations.
About
44
Publications
22,262
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
59
Citations
Citations since 2017
Introduction
Wilhelm is a professor of political science and international relations at the International Christian University (ICU) in Tokyo, Japan. He held visiting researcher positions at the University of Warwick (UK), University of Oxford (UK), and Harvard University (USA). Before joining ICU in 2000, he was a lecturer at Keio University (SFC), Japan, and the University of Hanover (Germany).
Current research interest include Japan's foreign and security policy, cybersecurity, and cyber diplomacy.
Additional affiliations
September 2019 - August 2020
September 2013 - August 2014
Position
- Visiting Academic
Description
- Research project on Japanese security cooperation in out-of-area missions.
January 2007 - July 2007
Education
April 1994 - May 2000
October 1986 - December 1992
Publications
Publications (44)
This paper analyses how Japan has been extending and deepening the legal and political framework for its cybersecurity policy in recent years. It focuses on the significance of Japan’s bilateral cyber diplomacy and cooperation with its most important partners, especially the EU. It also introduces core objectives and policy positions on internation...
A focus on digital development cooperation as a cornerstone in Europe’s digital connectivity agenda offers opportunities to act on long-term challenges and addresses several key priorities identified by the European Commission in third countries. This article develops an argument for strengthening Europe’s agenda on digital development cooperation,...
This article argues that the focus of the still nascent Indo-Pacific “security order” should be extended from traditional, predominantly maritime, security concerns to include information and cybersecurity. This reflects the growing awareness that the global and regional security order is increasingly undermined by information technology and an AI...
Support for digital infrastructure, literacy and the e-economy is vital for the development of countries neighbouring Europe. A focus on digital Official Development Assistance (ODA) as a cornerstone in Europe’s digital connectivity agenda can help deliver inclusive and sustainable growth in Europe’s periphery, while also serving Europe’s economic...
Support for digital infrastructure, literacy and the e-economy is vital for the development of countries neighbouring Europe. A focus on digital Official Development Assistance (ODA) as a cornerstone in Europe’s digital connectivity agenda can help deliver inclusive and sustainable growth in Europe’s periphery, while also serving Europe’s economic...
Book review of Rethinking Japan: The Politics of Contested Nationalism , by Arthur Stockwin and Kweku Ampiah. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2017, 312 pp., $110.00 (ISBN 978-1-4985-3792-6)
The EU and Japan have intensified its cooperation and a broad range of fields since the early 1990s. Political, industrial and academic cooperation in the area of science and technology including in the improvement of new technologies to production of energy had become one core element since the early 1990s, and even more so with the 2001 EU-Japan...
The EU and Japan have intensified its cooperation and a broad range of fields since the early 1990s. Political, industrial and academic cooperation in the area of science and technology including in the improvement of new technologies to production of energy had become one core element since the early 1990s, and even more so with the 2001 EU-Japan...
In January 2009, the Japanese government decided to join the multilateral-force counter-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden and the coast of Somalia and has since then developed into one of the most active and involved forces combatting maritime piracy. This special issue defines de-centering as a ‘process of moving away from a state of centering...
In 2016 and 2017, Japan’s security has continued to be challenged by the Chinese military buildup in the South China Sea and its continued intrusion into Japanese territory around the Senkaku Islands. However, two factors have significantly increased Japan’s insecurity: the successful ICBM rocket launches by North Korea in June and July 2017, and t...
In the first two years of the Abe administration, Japan has witnessed one of the most dramatic changes of its foreign and security policy and to a lesser degree also its eco- nomic policy since the 1960s. The first year was dominated by Prime Minister Abe’s policies of economic reform and growth, widely referred to as »Abenomics«, which in the year...
Japan has participated in the counter-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia and the CGPCS from the very beginning in 2009. Although, Japan has since then been among the most active countries in the fight against piracy, flying the highest number of reconnaissance missions and spending the longest time on sea, escorting ships along the IRTC transi...
National security in postwar Japan was based on the US--Japan Security Treaty and Japan's own defense capabilities (Yoshida doctrine), and this arrangement was flanked by diplomatic attempts to build an international reputation and role as a civilian power whose ...
Since the end of the Cold War, Japan's security environment has changed significantly. While, on the global level, the United States is still Japan's most important security partner, the nature of the partnership has changed as a result of shifting demands from the United States, new international challenges such as the North Korean nuclear program...
After having received international disaster and reconstruction support after the earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, the DPJ government under prime minister Noda has been trying to use a time when most of the attention of the Japanese public is still on dealing with the aftermath of the 3/11 disaster and other domestic political issues to gr...
Since the end of the Cold War, most Western European countries and various countries in the Asia-Pacific region have assumed a more significant international role. From Operation Desert Storm in Iraq in 1990-91, the military and humanitarian response to the crisis in the Balkans in the 1990s, peacekeeping missions to Cambodia and Timor-Leste, and t...
This chapter analyzes the initial Japanese public reaction to the Iraq War and how it developed between March 2003, when the invasion occurred, and January 2004, when the Japanese Self-Defense Forces (SDF) were deployed to Iraq. It explores the background of Japanese public foreign and defense policies and ask to what degree public opinion has supp...
Since the end of the Cold War, most Western European countries and various countries in the Asia-Pacific region have assumed a more signifi cant international role. From Operation Desert Storm in Kuwait in 1990–91, the military and humanitarian response to the crisis in the Balkans in the 1990s, peacekeeping missions to Cambodia and Timor-Leste and...
Until the Japanese government's decision to participate in the so-called war on terror by first sending maritime self-defense force (SDF) ships to refueling missions in the Indian Ocean in 2001, and then by dispatching ground self-defense force troops to Southern Iraq, the ...
Japan and Germany, two countries with very similar constraints concerning their defense and security policy, have often been described as middle power or civilian powers. While Germany has began to increase its international role first in Europe and later in out-of-area missions, Japan seems to be somehow behind Germany and is often described as in...
The word “Nagara-gawa” in Gifu prefecture, which enters the Pacific Ocean near Nagoya and is about 100 km long, now has a very specific connotation in Japan. To- day, for most Japanese, the name of the river is closely associated with the worst that Japanese politics and nature destruction has to offer. The history of the Nagara-gawa estuary dam1)...
This article documents and analyzes the changes Japanese foreign policy went through in 2009 and 2010. It covers the most important bilateral relationships and four policy areas. The most important event of this period is the first change of government after more than five decades of almost uninterrupted LDP rule in September 2009. One of the core...
For Japan, the years 2008 and 2009 are dominated by two challenges, namely the increased threat posed by North Korea and its missile and nuclear tests, as well as the global financial crisis, which severely threatened Japanese export markets. This article documents and analyses these threats and the Japanese reaction to them by looking at the devel...
Hannover, University, Diss., 2000 (Nicht für den Austausch).
Japanese society has often been portrayed as fundamentally "harmoni- ous" and the Japanese themselves have often been described as hard- working, docile, and politically rather passive, preferring to leave the important decisions about the future of their nation to bureaucrats and politicians. Japanese postwar history has seen its fair share of con...
Projects
Projects (4)
This is a study in foreign policy analysis. Over the last decade, Japan has been deepening new security partnerships with countries in Europe, the EU and NATO, as well as countries in the Asia-Pacific. One reason is a shared concern about issues of cyberspace and cybersecurity. This study asks: In what ways have cyberspace related issues deepened Japan’s bi- and multilateral security ties? The broader theoretical objective is to better integrate the new demands posed by cyberspace issues into the foreign policy analysis and IR theory?
What makes this research project significant for policy research and academically relevant for social and political science?
(a) Japan’s Cyber Security Basic Law (2014) stresses the “promotion of international cooperation” and the need for Japan to actively engage in “international norm setting; confidence building and the promotion of information sharing with foreign countries” (Art. 23). Japan’s Cybersecurity Strategy (2013) states that Japan aims to be at the forefront of global efforts to address these challenges and the “need to intensify Japan’s international and multi-stakeholder cooperation” (2015).
(b) Japan’s Cyber Security Basic Law (2014) demands more “international coordination for research and development”, and Japan’s “J-Initiative for Cybersecurity” (2013) asks for more collaboration in “multidisciplinary research that encompasses various fields, including social sciences perspectives, e.g. law, international relations, international security, (...) the promotion of research on cybersecurity in interdisciplinary fields”.
This project is innovative in that it adopts both these demands by asking the core question:
• How has Japan’s concern about cyberspace affected international cooperation or competition by governments, business, and civil society actors?
• How does international cooperation on cyberspace/cybersecurity differ from other policy areas?
• Does international cooperation on cybersecurity influence other policy areas?
• What are the ripple or spillover effects of cyberspace in general on the international system and foreign policy analysis?
