1st Edition

Challenge of Japan Before World War II

    414 Pages
    by Routledge

    414 Pages
    by Routledge

    First published in 1993.This book examines the relationships between the economic, political and strategic expansion of a country, and its tendency towards conflict and war. The authors use the example of Japan to demonstrate that it is uneven economic development and the search for basic resources and markets that often set the stage for war and international conflict. Thus the pursuit of legitimate national goals - for example the expansion of a nation's industrial base - may put it into competitive, poten­tially conflicting relationships with countries with similar objectives. The names of the authors will attract all International Relations scholars who will know Choucri and North's Nations in Conflict and will have been awaiting the outcome of their fifteen years of research on Japan. The book is also invaluable reading for advanced undergraduate and postgrad­uate students of Japan and other Asian area studies, political economy and political science.

    Prologue Part I Lateral pressure and Japan 1 Conflict and contention: a theory of lateral pressure Causes of warn2 The profile and capabilities of Japan: a critical century Part II Emergence of Japan 3 Growth, development, and early expansion 4 Intersections with major powers 5 Comparisons of profiles: Japan and the major powers 6 A model of lateral pressure: from the Meiji Restoration to World War I Part III Expansion, competition, conflict 7 Gains from World War I: Japan as an emerging power 8 Japanese expansion, conflict and escalation 9 Toward the Pearl Harbor decision 10 Modeling Japan's lateral pressure to World War II 11 Comparing lateral pressure processes: World War I and World War II 12 Simulating growth and expansion: paths to war Part IV Postwar Japan: reconstruction, growth, expansion 13 Lateral pressure after World War II 14 Economic growth and vulnerability 15 A new model of lateral pressure in postwar Japan 16 Simulating Japan's post-World War II expansion Part V Conclusion: emergence of a global power 17 Adaptation to a new international environment 18 Retrospection and thoughts for the future 19 Epilogue: a critical assessment

    Biography

    Nazli Choucri, Robert C. North, Susumu Yamakage