Bridges over Troubled History: Japan's Foreign Policy in Asia
2018; Oxford University Press; Volume: 21; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1093/isr/viy058
ISSN1521-9488
Autores Tópico(s)International Relations and Foreign Policy
ResumoIn the early nineteenth century, German political scientist and geographer Karl Haushofer coined the term “Pacific age” to describe the rapid growth of Japan, China, and India. “A giant space,” he wrote, “is expanding before our eyes with forces pouring into it … the successor of the Atlantic age.”1 Despite the cataclysmic change in international affairs that would follow Haushofer's writing, scholars speak of a similar phenomenon today—the Asian Century—to explain the reorientation of global economic might and diplomatic influence from the West to East. This notion rests on a significant assumption: that the current winds driving Asian growth can persist in the face of a gale of issues threatening regional stability. “Asia is becoming one,” writes Akihiko Tanaka to begin his wide-ranging contemporary historiography on Japan's foreign policy during the formative years of the Asian Century (xi). Despite this opening salvo, however, Japan in Asia is not a formal treatment of regionalization per se, nor does it engage in traditional theory-testing social science research. Instead, Tanaka explores the many political issues that the people and leaders of Asia have had to contend with and the means and mechanisms they have used to address those issues. His story of Japan's diplomatic efforts in a tumultuous Asia follows an established script in international politics, the themes of which are crises, responses to crises, and institution building to prevent future crises.
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