Ghosts in the neighborhood : why Japan is haunted by its past and Germany is not / / Walter F. Hatch

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910632879303321
• Autore: Hatch Walter F.
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Ann Arbor, Michigan : , : University of Michigan Press, , 2023; ©2023
• ISBN: 0-472-90310-1
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (xii, 170 pages) : illustrations
• Collana: Weiser Center for Emerging Democracies
• Disciplina: 741.5973
• Soggetti: Reconciliation - Japan; Reconciliation - Germany; Japan Foreign relations 1945-; Germany Foreign relations 1945-
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references (pages 157-170) and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Intro -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- Preface -- One. Introduction: Ghosts, Regionalism, and Reconciliation -- Two. Bloody History in Two Regions -- Three. Germany and France: Creating Union -- Four. Japan and South Korea: Enmity between Allies -- Five. Germany and Poland: Enlarging the Tent -- Six. Japan and China: Can't Buy Me Love -- Seven. Janus-Faced Superpower: The U.S. Role in Different Regionalisms -- Eight. The Healing Power of Institutions -- Notes -- References -- Index.
• Sommario/riassunto: Germany, which brutalized its neighbors in Europe for centuries, has mostly escaped the ghosts of the past, while Japan remains haunted in Asia. The most common explanation for this difference is that Germany knows better how to apologize; Japan is viewed as "impenitent." Walter F. Hatch rejects the conventional wisdom and argues that Germany has achieved reconciliation with neighbors by showing that it can be a trustworthy partner in regional institutions like the European Union and NATO; Japan has never been given that opportunity (by its dominant partner, the U.S.) to demonstrate such an ability to cooperate. This book rigorously defends the argument that political cooperation--not discourse or economic exchange--best explains Germany's relative ; success and Japan's relative failure in achieving reconciliation with neighbors brutalized by each regional power in the past. It uses paired case studies (Germany-France and Japan-South Korea; Germany-Poland and Japan-China) to gauge the effect of these competing variables on public opinion over time. With numerous charts, each of the four empirical chapters illustrates the powerful causal relationship between institution building and interstate reconciliation.