Dear Colleagues, 

 

We are delighted to invite you to the next Japanese Politics Online Seminar Series (JPOSS) meeting: 

 

U.S. ET: May 29 (Thu), 8-9 PM 

JST: May 30 (Fri), 9-10 AM 

Event page (with paper and zoom registration link): https://jposs.org/event/son-05-29-2025/

 

Title: "Extreme Wartime Violence and Attitudes toward the Use of Force: Evidence from Atomic Bomb Survivors"  

Author: Sangyong Son (NYU)

Discussant: Christopher Blair (Princeton University) and Wilhelm Vosse (International Christian University)

Chair: Daniel M. Smith (University of Pennsylvania)

 

Abstract: Previous studies have examined how conventional wartime violence influences human attitudes toward the use of force. However, despite the frequent past and potential future use of excessively destructive weapons, no research has explored how extreme wartime violence shapes these attitudes. I argue that exposure to extreme wartime violence fosters anti-militarism. To test this argument, I leverage the natural experiment of the atomic bombings in Japanese cities and collect original data from Japanese and Korean atomic bomb survivors. I find that direct exposure to atomic bombings leads to a strong aversion to war and the instruments of war. However, the strength of such anti-militaristic preferences is conditional on external security threats. Although both Japanese and Korean atomic bomb survivors oppose the use and acquisition of nuclear weapons, Korean survivors express significantly weaker aversion to possessing an independent nuclear arsenal as a means of deterring imminent nuclear threats from North Korea. 

 

We look forward to your participation! 

 

Best wishes, 

Amy Catalinac, Christina Davis, Shinju Fujihira, Yusaku Horiuchi, Saori Katada, Phillip Lipscy, and Dan Smith 

 

--
Shinju Fujihira, Ph.D. (he/him/his)  

藤平新樹

Executive Director

Program on U.S.-Japan Relations  

Weatherhead Center for International Affairs

Harvard University

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