Japan, Italy and the Road to the Tripartite Alliance

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Springer, Sep 20, 2018 - History - 218 pages

This book employs a comparative approach to explore the decision-making processes behind the Japanese and Italian foreign policies concerned with East Asia, Africa, Europe and the Mediterranean. It explores these policies in relation to the Axis powers and Britain in the 1930s. Both Japan and Italy shared significant similarities in their decision-making processes, which help to illustrate the workings of ultra-nationalist and fascist foreign policy. The work examines the mechanism of decision-making in the foreign ministries, rather than the personalities of leaders, in order to understand why and how both countries finally chose unexpected partners. The Tripartite Alliance has often been perceived through the diplomatic motives and arbitrary manners of dictatorial leadership in Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy and ultra-nationalist Japan individually. This book compares the foreign policies of Italy and Japan and looks outwards to their diplomatic relations with Britain, a key imperial factor in their expansions into East Asia and Africa, contrasting these Axis powers with Germany, usually thought to typify fascist diplomacy.

 

Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction
1
Chapter 2 The Ideological Backgrounds of Axis Foreign Policies
19
The Two Prime and Foreign Ministers Koki Hirota and Benito Mussolini
53
The Two Undersecretaries Mamoru Shigemitsu and Fulvio Suvich
85
The Two Ambassadors to Britain Shigeru Yoshida and Dino Grandi
115
Chapter 6 Traditional Diplomats and New Actors
139
Chapter 7 The East Asian Crisis and Globalization of the Axis
157
Chapter 8 Conclusion
189
Japan Italy and the Road to the Tripartite Alliance
196
Select Bibliography
197
Index
213
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About the author (2018)

Ken Ishida is a Professor in the Faculty of Law, Politics and Economics at Chiba University, Japan.