Japan, Italy and the Road to the Tripartite Alliance

Description

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. Front Matter ....Pages i-xiii Introduction (Ken Ishida)....Pages 1-18 The Ideological Backgrounds of Axis Foreign Policies (Ken Ishida)....Pages 19-52 Coordinators: The Two Prime and Foreign Ministers, Koki Hirota and Benito Mussolini (Ken Ishida)....Pages 53-83 Planners: The Two Undersecretaries, Mamoru Shigemitsu and Fulvio Suvich (Ken Ishida)....Pages 85-114 Negotiators: The Two Ambassadors to Britain, Shigeru Yoshida and Dino Grandi (Ken Ishida)....Pages 115-138 Traditional Diplomats and New Actors (Ken Ishida)....Pages 139-156 The East Asian Crisis and Globalization of the Axis (Ken Ishida)....Pages 157-188 Conclusion (Ken Ishida)....Pages 189-195 Correction to: Japan, Italy and the Road to the Tripartite Alliance (Ken Ishida)....Pages C1-C1 Back Matter ....Pages 197-218