Challenge of Japan Before World War II (Hardcover)

In this volume the authors examine relationships between the growth and the economic, political and strategic expansion of a country and its propensity for conflict and war. The intention is to ascertain through the systematic analysis of one case over 100 years the extent to which territorial expansion and armed conflict are less an inevitable consequence of growth and development than an outcome of the demands and requirements of states and their economic, political and strategic security needs. Also of critical concern is the extent to which national expansion, once accepted as a security imperative, may create its own demands and requirements for even further expansion. The study combines historical inquiry with quantitative analysis in order to compare Japanese modes of growth, expansion and conflict from the Meiji Restoration to World War I, during the inter-war period and over the years since 1945. This book should be of interest to postgraduates and academics; politics, history and Japanese studies.