A Human Security Approach to Japan’s Modern State Formation : A Comparative Reading through the Lens of E H Norman’s Origins of the Modern Japanese State

Abstract

E.H. Norman wrote on Japan’s transformation from feudalism to a modern sovereign nation-state during the Meiji era - a valuable analysis of the first “Japanese miracle”. He showed how Japan achieved national security - a prerequisite to human security, which is defined as “the protection of individual life”. Our theory of human security posits one theorem to link individual human security and collective human security, and generating a second theorem that advances human security through national security. State values of equality, order, and liberty differentiate modern states and determine the character of institutions which provide human security. China, Russia, and the U.S. provide historical expressions of different value priorities. A reading of Norman describes how Japanese leaders created a new state that combined human security and national security.