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Ruling Coalitions, Transnational Activism, and Conservative Reaction

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Ruling Coalitions, Transnational Activism, and Conservative Reaction Dealing with Historical Issues in Japan and Germany: Ruling Coalitions, Transnational Activism, and Conservative Reaction By Yangmo Ku B.A. August 1999, Sogang University, Seoul M.A. May 2002, The George Washington University A Dissertation submitted to The Faculty of Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 31, 2010 Dissertation directed by Mike M. Mochizuki Japan-U.S. Relations Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences of The George Washington University certifies that Yangmo Ku has passed the Final Examination for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy as of June 28, 2010. This is the final and approved from of the dissertation. Dealing with Historical Issues in Japan and Germany: Ruling Coalitions, Transnational Activism, and Conservative Reaction Yangmo Ku Dissertation Research Committee: Mike M. Mochizuki, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Dissertation Director Harvey Feigenbaum, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Committee Member Holger Schmidt, Assistant Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, Committee Member ii © Copyright 2010 by Yangmo Ku All rights reserved iii Dedication To my wife, Min Ku and my mother, Bokran Kim iv Acknowledgements This dissertation could not have been completed without the generous help of many people. I want to first express my special gratitude to Professor Mike Mochizuki, who served both as my academic advisor and dissertation director with intellectual and personal generosity. His advice, balanced between warm encouragement and insightful comment, always kept me on the right track throughout the entire research and writing process. I am also indebted to committee members Harvey Feigenbaum and Holger Schmidt, and to reviewers J.J. Suh and Lily Gardner Feldman. They offered helpful comments and suggestions on a number of earlier drafts. Professor Youngshik Bong of American University often provided me with his valuable insights on East Asian historical issues. Professors Cheolhee Park of Seoul National University and Wondeog Lee of Kookmin University helped make my field research in South Korea and Japan fruitful. Pastor Mikang Yang also introduced numerous interview subjects, particularly civil activists in both South Korea and Japan. Professor Unsuk Han of Korea University helped me to find important research materials regarding the German-Polish History Textbook Commission at the Georg-Eckert Institute in Germany. Several institutions also contributed to my field research in South Korea, Japan, and Germany. I received generous financial assistance from the Korea Foundation; the Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies; and the Georg-Eckert Institute of International Textbook Research. The Institute of Japanese Studies at Seoul National v University, Temple University Japan Campus, and the Georg-Eckert Institute allowed me to use their office space and research facilities. Finally, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my mother and wife. My mother, Bokran Kim, has stood behind me with utmost patience and love. My wife Min has endured the misery of being married to a graduate student, including countless lonely holidays and weekends when I had to work. She has always cheered me up and shared with me all the ups and downs in my life. I could not have completed this project without her love and support. vi Abstract of Dissertation Dealing with Historical Issues in Japan and Germany: Ruling Coalitions, Transnational Activism, and Conservative Reaction When and why does a perpetrator state take a more penitent stance on its past injustices? This dissertation explores the variations in Japan’s and Germany’s choice of history policy, mainly through the comparative study of common historical issues—sexual slavery, forced labor, and biased history textbooks. I test and compare two competing approaches to explain the variance in the two states’ behavior toward these historical problems. A realist approach argues that geopolitical incentives are the driving force behind a state’s penitence regarding past transgressions. A transnational-coalitional approach— newly combined for this study—posits that a perpetrator state will adopt more penitent attitudes toward its past wrongs when transnational activism is powerful and the state is led by a progressive ruling coalition. Transnational actors push the state to adopt more conciliatory policies toward past misdeeds by disseminating information, engaging in persuasion, and exerting pressure. Progressive governing elites, who have a strong motive for promoting human rights and social justice, listen to and take into account the voices requesting redress for unresolved historical issues from transnational actors. The case studies show that the two approaches are not mutually exclusive but complementary despite the relative strength of transnational-coalitional approach. The effect of transnational activism is heightened when the target state is faced with other geopolitical incentives and/or when the target state is led by a progressive ruling coalition. The Japanese state, for example, responded to the transnational comfort vii women movement in a somewhat conciliatory manner between 1993 and 1995 when building better ties with Asia was in its security interest and a liberal, non-LDP coalition briefly took power. Similarly, the German state took a more conciliatory stance on the forced labor issue when the progressive SPD/Green Party led a coalition government and German business interests were at stake in the U.S. market during the late 1990s. The transnational German-Polish History Textbook Commission played a key role in improving the German historical narrative and its textbook policy regarding Poland, particularly as the progressive SPD-FDP coalition supported the Commission and such action was very much in keeping with German security interests during the 1970s. In the 2000s, on the other hand, transnational activism regarding history textbooks had a limited impact on the Japanese historical narrative and its textbook policy given, in large part, the strengthened U.S.-Japan security alliance and the conservative governing coalition led by the LDP. viii Table of Contents Dedication………………………………………………………………………………...iv Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………..v Abstract of Dissertation………………………………………………………………….vii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………ix List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………..x List of Tables……………………………………………………………………………..xi Chapter 1: Introduction……………………………………………………………………1 Chapter 2: Analytical Framework: Realism vs. Transnational-Coalitional Approach……………………………26 APOLOGY AND COMPENSATION Chapter 3: Japan’s Dealings with Comfort Women/Forced Labor Issues……………….53 Chapter 4: Germany’s Dealings with Forced Labor/Forced Prostitution Issues.............105 HISTORY TEXTBOOKS Chapter 5: Japan’s Postwar Historical Narrative and Textbook Policy: The Japanese-South Korean Context……………………………….............142 Chapter 6: Germany’s Postwar Historical Narrative and Textbook Policy: The German-Polish Context………………………………………………..193 Chapter 7: Conclusion…………………………………………………………………..227 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………240 Appendix………………………………………………………………………………..258 ix List of Figures Figure 1 Net Power of Transnational Activism………………………………………….40 Figure 2 Analytical Model for State Behavior toward Historical Issues………………...47 x List of Tables Table 1 Korean Perceptions of Japan……………………………………………………...7 Table 2 Germany’s Coalition Governments……………………………………………..44 Table 3 Forced Laborers according to Nationality, August 1944………………………105 Table 4 German-Polish Textbook Dialogue (1977-1989)……………………………...209 Table 5 Summary of Theory Tests (Apology and Compensation)……………………..227 Table 6 Summary of Theory Tests (History Textbooks)……………………………….227 xi Chapter 1 Introduction When and why do perpetrator states take a penitent stance on their past wrongs? Why has Germany been able to deal with historical issues in a more forthright manner than has Japan? Why do their behaviors differ over time in addressing historical problems like sexual slavery, forced labor, and biased history textbooks? Under what conditions do they take more apologetic attitudes toward their past injustices and adopt more reflective historical narrative and textbook polices? Japan and Germany inflicted tremendous suffering on huge numbers of people in the early part of the Twentieth Century. Despite considerable controversy over the numbers, their aggressive wars resulted in casualties of more than fifty million in Europe and twenty million in Asia. 1 Of these, as many as eleven million people perished in the Holocaust due to Nazi Germany’s deliberate campaign to wipe out certain undesirable groups, including six million Jews. Although Imperial Japan did not pursue such genocidal policies, it also left behind a similar legacy of distress and resentment in Asian nations. Both states committed a series of comparable wartime atrocities against humanity, engaging in sexual slavery and forced labor under hellish conditions. From its colonial and conquered territories, Japan forcibly drafted so-called “comfort women,” ranging in 1 Jennifer Lind, Sorry States: Apologies in International Politics (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2008), pp. 104-05; Thomas U. Berger, “Dealing with difficult
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