Full Description
This book examines the body of law relating to occupation and analogous forms of territorial control, including the issues surrounding various types of military occupation and the domination of territory and people abroad. It achieves this through a comprehensive analysis of the legal basis of the U.S. prolonged occupation of Okinawa.
The book begins with a discussion of the legal frameworks under international and U.S. law relating to the occupation and other forms of administration of foreign territory. It then examines the drafting process of various "constitutional" orders issued by the U.S. military for Okinawa during and after World War II. Covering the entire period of the U.S. administration, the book captures the formation of highly contested legal arguments for external governance during the transitional years of 1949-1957, as well as the institutional reforms under the Kennedy administration in the 1960s. The analysis of legal developments contextualizes the Okinawa issue in the current legal discourse on foreign occupation, self-determination, and postcolonialism. The theoretical implications of residual sovereignty and its effect on the relationship between the Japanese government and the people of Okinawa in the modern day are also discussed.
Examining the factors that facilitated the U.S. military rule of Okinawa within the context of international law development, this book will interest scholars of international law, international relations, postcolonial studies, and Asian studies.
Contents
Introduction. Part I. Legal Regimes of Foreign Territorial Authority—Between Consent and Coercion 1. Occupation and Consent: Reassessing the Foundations of Foreign Territorial Control in International Law Chapter 2. The U.S. Constitutional Empire: Territorial Incorporation, Strategic Leaseholds, and the Doctrine of Unincorporated Territories Chapter 3. Entr'acte — The Relativization of Law in Territorial Governance? Part II: Legal Fictions and Administrative Realities — The U.S. Rule over Okinawa 4. Occupation and Disjunction: The Uneven Histories of Okinawa and Mainland Japan, 1945-1948 Chapter 5. Institutionalizing the Provisional: Legal Continuities Across the Peace Treaty Divide, 1948-1952 Chapter 6. Rewriting Occupation: The Collapse of Civilianization in the Administration of the Ryukyus, 1953-1957 Chapter 7. The Dilemma of Normalization under Foreign Rule: Democratization and Development without Sovereignty, 1958-1972 Part III: Reconfiguring Sovereignty and Responsibility— Japan's Legal Response to the Okinawa Question 8. Residual Sovereignty: Japan's Role in the Post-Treaty Governance of Okinawa Conclusion: Legalized Fictions, Strategic Ambiguity, and the Politics of the Uninhabited Island. Documentary Supplement. Bibliography
