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Decades after the mobilization of comfort women from the late 1930s to 1945, disagreements over the issue continue to escalate, fueled by limited information and differing perspectives. This article aims to foster an academic consensus by employing a law and economics framework, contrasting with an opposing viewpoint. By examining the bilateral relationship between the Japanese authorities and comfort agents, previously overlooked aspects are brought to light. The analysis reveals varying levels of contractuality in different bilateral relationships, with comfort women lacking basic contractual requirements. However, the relationship between the Japanese authorities and comfort agents demonstrates greater fulfillment, albeit with an inherent imbalance. Notably, credible commitments between the authorities and agents, independent of written contracts, facilitate reciprocal agreements. Historical records shed light on this relationship, providing a basis for logical deduction. Resolving the current disagreements requires considering these perspectives, potentially alleviating longstanding antagonism and reconciling incompatible views surrounding the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the calculus of third-party participation in ongoing wars. Altfeld and Bueno de Mesquita have shown that under an expected utility model of third-party participation, the probability of a nation's joining is in inverse proportion to the ex ante probability of other nations' joining. In seeming contradiction Yamamoto and Bremer have argued that one major power's decision to enter a war increases the probability that other powers will do likewise. In this article it is shown that these two perspectives, in fact, do not contradict one another. It is found that a nation is more likely to join a war when the initial belligerents in the conflict have few formal alliances, and when, despite ex ante beliefs, many other nations have already joined in the war. It is also shown that a third party is more likely to join the war in support of a friend than in opposition to a foe.

The quality of the ecological environment and security are trans-national and national public goods, respectively. Conceptually, there are three different causal relationships between ecology and security. First, the improvement of security may make the ecological environment better in such cases as détente, followed by environmental cooperation while the degeneration of security deteriorates the ecology in such cases as war. Second, a military confrontation may restore natural ecological systems in such cases as the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Third, ecological cooperation can result in politico-military cooperation while environmental conflict can instigate military conflict. Though the causal path from ecology to security is limited, it needs to be considered as a means to build up security and confidence. A peace park may belong to this category. The Park Geun-hye government has proposed a World Eco-Peace Park to be built inside the Korean DMZ. There is no precedent for the DMZ Peace Park to wholly imitate since no existing peace park was created without some form of prior political and military resolution. The project of the DMZ World Eco-Peace Park should be promoted while considering what facilitates its creation as well as what effect the park will have. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]