Thesis proposal turned in!

This week I finally had a chance to meet with my academic advisor about my thesis. Shortly after I returned to Tokyo from the US a few weeks ago, I sent him my thesis proposal about peace constitutions. But because he was out of town when I first arrived back and then later succumbed to the H1N1 flu (Yes, it's that close to me! Can't wait to get my vaccination!) we coud not meet to talk until just this week.

Since sending him my proposal by email a few weeks ago, I had been very nervous yet eager to hear his thoughts on it. Over the summer I had a chance to tell him a little bit about my ideas, but because I had not written them out thoroughly, I'm sure that the explanations of my thoughts to him were not so clear. So, it was actually good for me to finally put them down on paper (or I guess put them on the computer screen in today's tech-world). I had worked hard to give him a thorough outline of what I have been thinking over the past few months to research. I also had a lot of questions for him about suggested readings and research methods.

We finally met this past Wednesday, and I was pleasantly surprised by our meeting. My proposed study will be a thorough examination of peace constitutions. It will attempt to define—beyond Japan’s constitution—the various kinds of peace constitutions around the world and their impact on war, military, diplomacy, development aid and assistance, and other foreign policy tools that states have to resolve conflicts between and among each other. The study will have three main objectives: to understand what peace constitutions are, to understand the social movement behind the adoption of peace constitutions, and, finally, to understand the impact of peace constitutions on regional foreign policies promoting and maintaining peaceful relations, non-military aggression, and sustainable development. Besides defining what peace constitutions are and categorizing the various kinds, the study will also ask the essential question, “Do peace constitutions provide a legitimate and consequential means to restrain states from seeking military conflicts to solve regional conflicts and, instead, to find more pacific regional relations? And if so, how?”

I believe my advisor is quite taken by my thesis research questions! He offered very few changes to my proposal, which I was relieved to hear. Instead, he suggested some readings and people to look to in my initial research on this topic, which will be very helpful for me. He also agreed that one of the most difficult parts of my research will be answering question number three about the impact of peace constitutions on states' foreign policy choices and actions; yet, he also thinks this is the most important and distinguishing part of my research proposal. I was glad to hear that he agreed that I was asking the right questions and, moreover, that the questions are very important.

Now that I feel like my advisor has given me the green light to work, I'm ready to go right now! As my research further develops and unfolds, you will be able to read all about it right here!

By the way, if you are interested in reading my full thesis proposal, you can do so here.

JRG