Description
Book SynopsisFocusing on two case studies from East Asia and Europe, Yinan He argues that the key to interstate reconciliation is the harmonization of national memories. Conversely, memory divergence resulting from national mythmaking harms long-term prospects for reconciliation.
Trade Review'Yinan He is a uniquely talented scholar of Chinese foreign policy. Her work explores forces that could make for peace or war, as with German-Polish reconciliation, and then applies those key lessons to the potentially explosive tensions in China-Japan rivalry. Rather than seeing China as unique, Professor He approaches Beijing's continuing unwillingness to truly reconcile with Tokyo from a perspective of general IR theory. The result is a pioneering work which blazes new and better paths in the study of Chinese foreign policy. Professor He has produced an excellent, informed and hard-headed volume which makes important contributions both to IR theory and also to prospects for peace in a region which contains dangerous embers that could yet burst into fires of war.' Edward Friedman, University of Wisconsin, Madison
'The great strength of He's work lies in combining [an] innovative theoretical argument with careful empirical inquiry. Her attention to questions of case selection and design, clarity of definitions, high standards for evidence collection, and honesty in reporting her findings bolster the credibility of her claims.' J. Reilly, Journal of Chinese Political Science
Table of ContentsIntroduction; 1. Explaining deep interstate reconciliation; 2. When east meets west: postwar West German-Polish reconciliation; 3. Initial isolation: pre-normalization Sino-Japanese reconciliation; 4. The 'honeymoon' period: Sino-Japanese relations, 1972–81; 5. An old feud comes back: Sino-Japanese relations in the 1980s; 6. Volatility and downward spiral: Sino-Japanese relations from the 1990s to the present; Conclusion; Appendix; Bibliography.
