Un-globalizing Movements in the Era of Globalization: Postwar Transnational Peace Movements in Japan, 1945–1980's

• In Event: 463 - Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements Roundtables (one-hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 03. Cultural Framing and Mobilization in a Comparative Perspective

Abstract

Many studies of transnational or global social movements have hypothesized that such movements become more transnational as globalization proceeds; this paper examines a case that suggests precisely the opposite. I look at the Japanese transnational peace movement, particularly the anti-nuclear bomb movement, one of the largest and most enduring social movements in Japan. The paper charts, first, the movement’s development over time and how activists and participants variously engaged in transnational mobilization and with the discourse of the global imaginary. Second, it show how the Japanese anti-nuclear bomb movement converged with, but then diverged from anti-nuclear movements in Europe and North America.

The paper identifies three distinct periods. In the first, between 1945 and 1954, the anti-nuclear movement developed via two parallel, simultaneous trajectories—one within Japan, and one outside of Japan. Transnational peace movements outside of Japan forged various alliances with movements within Japan, while some Japanese peace movement leaders reached out to organizations outside Japan. During the second period, from 1954 to the mid-1970s, the Japanese anti-nuclear movement became increasingly transnational in organization and scope. Then, in the third period, between the mid-1970s and the 1980s, the movement began to focus more on domestic issues only, decoupling itself from the broader transnational anti-nuclear movement, just as the latter was beginning to surge outside of Japan. This decoupling of Japanese transnational movements away from other transnational movements around the world has only heightened in subsequent years, suggesting that globalization does not always promote more transnational social movements.

Author

• Hiroe Saruya, Sophia University