The shared geopolitical challenges of Germany and Japan

Germany and Japan have pursued relatively unassertive foreign policies since the end of World War II, but the vagaries of geopolitics are forcing them to change course in dramatic ways. On Thursday, German leaders announced that Berlin would try to play a larger global role politically and militarily. Meanwhile, Japan has already been gradually normalizing its military and strengthening its regional and global role, but its transformation has accelerated under the premiership of Shinzo Abe.

Though nearly 9,000 kilometers apart, Germany and Japan still share many of the geopolitical constraints that dictated their actions in the first half of the 1900s, culminating for each in defeat, ruin and eventual rebirth. Both emerged en force at the turn of the 20th century, taking established regional and global powers by surprise.