Alliance security dilemmas in the Iraq War

"The book explains why Germany opposed the U.S. decision to attack Iraq in 2003, whereas Japan supported it, despite the two countries' many similarities. Employing the concept of alliance security dilemma - constituted by the twin fears of abandonment and entrapment - the author argues that the two countries pursued opposite policies toward the Iraq War because the level of Germany's alliance security dilemma in its relationships with the U.S. was higher than Japan's. The two countries' alliance security dilemma with the U.S., however, is not derived from the mere presence or absence of external threats. Instead, it is a product of: (1) the regional security environments along with U.S. security commitment to the two countries, (2) the type of alliance institutions to which each country belongs, and (3) the characteristics of their military institutions"--