Reimagining international society through the emergence of Japanese imperialism
Abstract
This article contributes to the debate that 'international society is what states have made of it' by examining the socialisation of late-Tokugawa/Meiji Japan into the normative framework of European international society. Despite the recent arguments that the English School has pioneered an interpretivist approach in the study of international politics, their conceptualisation of the expansion of international society has paid scant regard to non-European perspectives. As a consequence international society is commonly portrayed as playing a progressive role in mitigating conflict and enhancing world order. I challenge the lopsided portrayal of how non-European states were 'civilised' into international society. I illustrate, in particular, that Japan's socialisation into international society did not lessen conflict. Rather, Japan's social understanding of how European states use international society led it to embark on an imperialist spree. Finally, I demonstrate that the English School can become a more powerful interpretivist approach by incorporating non-European perspectives.