The Rising Sun Was No Jackal: Japan, the Axis Pact, and Alliance Formation Theory.

By highlighting the phenomenon of bandwagoning for profit, Randall Schweller has made important contributions to the literature of alliance formation, including the introduction of a balance of interest theory. Yet, the validity of his arguments has not received academic scrutiny. To fill this void, the present paper examines the case of Japan and the Axis Pact, which constitutes a most likely case of his "bandwagon for profit" argument. Schweller posits that Japan jumped on the German bandwagon, like a jackal seeking a wolf's spoils. The paper demonstrates that his "Japan as a jackal" thesis is unsustainable on empirical grounds. For Tokyo, evidence shows, the Axis Pact was first and foremost meant to be a military alliance for balancing against the United States, rather than for free-riding on German power. On the basis of its empirical findings, furthermore, the paper presents an improved version of balance of interest theory on alliance formation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]