The Russians Debate the Kuril Islands Territorial Dispute: An Aspect of Russo-Japanese Relations in the Post-Cold War World

Abstract

Both Japan and the Russian Federation still claim rightful ownership of a small group of islands between Japan's Hokkaido Island and the Russian Federation's Northern Kuril Islands. Russia seized the islands in the course of World War II. The disposition of the islands has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty. The objectives of this thesis will be to analyze Russia's political, economic, strategic, and social perspectives of the Kuril Islands debate, during 1992, as an indication of the post-Cold War international relations between Moscow and Tokyo. It is the hypothesis of this thesis that although the breakup of the Soviet Union has eased tensions between the 'West' and 'East' international relations between Moscow and Tokyo continue to reflect Soviet philosophies and policies. This not only hurts the Russian Federation's future development in the Pacific Rim but acts as an obstacle for cooperative, interdependent ties between all the countries of the world. Kuril Islands, Northern Territories, Russian Federation, Russo-Japanese Relations.

Open PDF

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 1993
Accession Number
ADA269714

Entities

People

  • Virginia B. Graf

Organizations

  • Naval Postgraduate School

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agreements
  • Birds
  • Economic Development
  • Far East
  • Fish
  • Governments
  • International Law
  • International Relations
  • International Trade
  • Market Economy
  • National Politics
  • National Security
  • Personnel Management
  • Political Systems
  • Recreation
  • Second World War
  • Treaties

Fields of Study

  • Political science

Readers

  • East Asian Political and Security Studies within the Soviet Union
  • Urban Planning and Geography.