‘Pacifist Principle’ in the Italian and Japanese Constitutions in the Wake of the War in Ukraine

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Inbunden, Engelska, 2026

2 999 kr

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The book explores the evolution of the debate on the scope and meaning of the constitutional “pacifist principles” (or “pacifist clauses”) in Italy (article 11 of the Italian Constitution) and Japan (article 9 of the Japanese Constitution) generated by the war in Ukraine. The “pacifist principle” is a fundamental principle of both the Italian and Japanese Constitutions. Article 11 of the Constitution of Italy provides that “Italy rejects war as an instrument of aggression against the freedom of other peoples and as a means for the settlement of international disputes”. Article 9 of the Constitution of Japan provides that “Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes”. The actual scope of these provisions has historically been the object of a heated legal and political debate in the Italian and Japanese societies alike. It is not controversial that the “pacifist clauses” allow (and even oblige) Italy and Japan to recourse to “war” as a means of self-defence of last resort, to ensure the survival of the democratic constitutional system when faced with an existential threat (a “war” of invasion/annexation). Scholars, however, disagree on whether (and to what extent) these provisions allow Italy and Japan to provide aid to a third Country engaged in a war of their own. The book explores this dilemma from an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing on legal, historical, philosophical, and comparative approaches.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2026-06-14
Mått155 x 235 x undefined mm
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor402
FörlagSpringer Nature Switzerland AG
ISBN9783032231079

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Giovanni Cavaggion is Associate Professor of Constitutional and Public Law at the University of Milan, where he teaches Constitutional Law, Public Law and European Values and Cultural Rights. He authored the books Diritti culturali e modello costituzionale di integrazione(Turin, 2018), La formazione del Governo. Aspetti e problemi tra quadro costituzionale e nuove prassi (Turin, 2020), and I diritti della maggioranza nel costituzionalismo contemporaneo. Possibili derive illiberali della difesa dell'identità nazionale(Turin, 2025), as well as over 50 other articles and book chapters with national and international publishers. He is the coordinator of the Jean Monnet project “European Values and Cultural Identities: Constitutional Challenges of the Promotion of the ‘European Way of Life’” (EU-VALUE) and the principal investigator of the SEED project “The ‘pacifist principle’ in the Italian and Japanese Constitutions in the wake of the war in Ukraine” (PEACE-ITA-JPN). His research interests include, among other things, the multicultural society, the protection of fundamental rights, multilevel constitutionalism, the European integration process, the fundamental values and principles of the European constitutional tradition.

1. Introduction.- ITALY.- 2. The ‘Pacifist Principle’ and the ‘Use of Force’ in the Italian Constitution.- 3. From “Vapid Pacifism” to “Aggressive Pacifism”. Themes, Languages, Organisational Forms of Pacifist Culture from the Post-War Period to the End of the Short Century.- 4. The Pacifist Principles of Conscientious Objection.- 5. Italian Scientists for Nuclear Arms Control in the Cold War: A Concise Testimony.- 6. The Tension of the Italian Constitutional Pacifist Principle in the Wake of the War in Ukraine.- JAPAN.- 7. Six Faces of Article 9: Japan’s Constitutional Pacifism and the World Order.- 8. E. H. Norman, C. L. Kades and the “Feudal Remnants” in Postwar Japan.- 9. Whither Pacifism in Cold War Japan? An Interpretive Path (1947-1990).- 10. Japanese Rearmament and the Constitution: A Misalignment.- 11. The “Pacifist Integralism” Myth: Japan’s Evolving National Security Approach Since the 1992 Peacekeeping Law and the Japan Socialist Party’s Narrative and Political Shift.- 12. The Tragic Demise of Japan’s Constitutional War Constraints.- THE COMPARATIVE AND TRANSNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE.- 13. The Constitutions of Japan, Italy and Germany Reject War: and the Current Non-Wars?.- 14. Umberto Campagnolo, the European Society of Culture and the Atomic Threat: A Peace Proposal from Intellectuals during the Cold War.- 15. War and Peace in Poland’s Constitutional Framework: Past and Present.- 16. The Pacifist Principle in Germany: Between Established Constitutional Constants and Unprecedented Military Expansionism.- 17. Pacifist Clauses, Euro-Atlantic Integration Clauses and Neutrality in the Constitutions of the Former Soviet Republics of Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova.- THE PHILOSOPHICAL AND POLITICAL PERSPECTIVE.- 18. Contingent or Principled? On the Philosophical Distinctiveness of Pacifism.- 19. Political Philosophy and the Problem of War: Mapping the Battlefield.- 20. Democracies at Peace (or at War)? The Rise and Fall of the Democratic Peace Theory.