Well-grounded on abundant Japanese language sources which have been underused, this book uncovers the League of Nations' works in East Asia in the inter-war period. By researching the field of social and other technical issues, namely, the trade in narcotics, the trafficking of women and the work in terms of improving health provision and providing economic advice to Nationalist China, it not only examines their long-term impacts on the international relations in the region but also argues that the League's works challenged the existing imperial order of East and Southeast Asia. The book offers a key read for academics and students of international history and international relations, and others studying Japan or East Asia in the twentieth century.

Autorentext

Harumi Goto-Shibata is Professor of International History at the Department of Advanced Social and International Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, University of Tokyo, Japan. Her prior publications include Japan and Britain in Shanghai, 1925-31 (Macmillan, St Antony's series, 1995) as well as three single-authored books, and two co-edited books in Japanese.

Inhalt
Introduction.- Part I The League of Nations as Forums and Actors.- Social and Humanitarian Issues of the League of Nations.- Challenging the Imperial Order: Control of Opium.- Expanding the Range: Japan's Reaction to the Technical Co-operation with China.- The TWC as Another Forum and Women.- Part II Contested Power and Authority.- Japan's Withdrawal and China's Request for a Seat on the Council.- Who Controls the Co-operation: Technical Co-operation after the Outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War.- The Question of Empires: Co-operation in the Yunnan-Burma Borderland in 1939.- The Limits of the League's Control of Opium.- East Asia in the Architecture of the Post-War World: From the League to the UN Economic and Social Council.- Conclusion.