1st Edition
International Society in the Early Twentieth Century Asia-Pacific Imperial Rivalries, International Organizations, and Experts
Concentrating on the rivalry between the formal and informal empires of Great Britain, Japan and the United States of America, this book examines how regional relations were negotiated in Asia and the Pacific during the interwar years.
A range of international organizations including the League of Nations and the Institute of Pacific Relations, as well as internationally minded intellectuals in various countries, intersected with each other, forming a type of regional governance in the Asia-Pacific. This system transformed itself as post-war decolonization accelerated and the United States entered as a major power in the region. This was further reinforced by big foundations, including Carnegie, Rockefeller and Ford. This book sheds light on the circumstances leading to the collapse of formal empires in the Asia-Pacific alongside hitherto unknown aspects of the region’s transnational history.
A valuable resource for students and scholars of the twentieth century history of the Asia-Pacific region, and of twentieth century internationalism
Introduction (Hiroo Nakajima)
Part I Understanding trans-Pacific interactions: The liberal inter-imperial order in the "Pacific" region, 1920–1960 (Tomoko Akami)
1. The Institute of Pacific Relations (1925–61): Non-Western origins of IR study (Seiko Mimaki)
2. Manchukuo’s quest for "recognition" and the Institute of Pacific Relations (Yoshie Takamitsu)
3. The cultural exchange programs in the prewar period as cultural borderlands: The Japan-America Student Conference and the Philippines-Japan Student Conference (Nobuyuki Nakamura)
Part II The regeneration of international society in the Asia-Pacific: Toward the postwar years (Hiroo Nakajima)
4. Westernization narratives re-examined: Through the eyes of Edwin O. Reischauer and John K. Fairbank (Jon Thares Davidann)
5. William R. Castle and his Japanese connections: Focusing on the period after he left the State Department (Izumi Hirobe)
6. Japanese Americanists’ visions of the Asia-Pacific order: From the prewar to the postwar years (Hiroo Nakajima)
7. SSRC’s Committee on Comparative Politics and the struggle to construct a general theory of political modernization using the Japanese model: Scholarly endeavors of Robert E. Ward (Yutaka Sasaki)
Epilogue (Hiroo Nakajima)
Biography
Hiroo Nakajima is Professor in the Osaka School of International Public Policy at Osaka University, Japan.
"Through the above stimulating but solid essays, readers can infer that a number of events actually happened were influenced by various non-governmental organizations and individuals apart from national governments and forces and there had been other alternatives as well in the interwar and the postwar years."---Professor Akifumi Nagata, Sophia University in The American Studies Newsletter (The Japanese Association for American Studies)
