École française d’Extrême-Orient EFEO
Scuola Italiana di Studi sull'Asia Orientale ISEAS
co-hosted by Institute for Research in Humanities, Kyoto University

KYOTO LECTURES 2018 

Tuesday, February 20th, 18:00h
Speaker: Mahon Murphy

Please note that this lecture will be held at the Kyoto centre of the École Française d’Extrême-Orient

Japan of the World
Japan, Peace, and Internationalism in the wake of the First World War

The role of the First World War in creating the conditions for Internationalism to flourish is the central  paradox running through the period roughly corresponding to Japan’s Taisho Era. This talk will examine,  through the lens of Japan, the transformation of attitudes towards war and peace during this period.
 The First World War resulted in a redistribution of power in the wake of imperial collapse, creating changes in the normative environment, and in the principles and ideas that underpinned international  politics. Rather than merely a transformation as a result of shifts in material power, new behavioural  norms also shaped the emerging international order. While not overlooking an emergent militarism, this talk will highlight Japan’s engagement with internationalism in the context of Japan’s rise as a Great Power. Crown Prince Hirohito’s visit to Europe, the Peace Exposition held in Ueno Park and Japan’s withdrawal from Shandong all pointed toward an official endorsement of peace and the new brand of liberal internationalism that shaped the immediate post-war order.

Mahon Murphy is presently a JSPS Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Law, Kyoto University. He received his PhD from the London School of Economics, with a thesis on Britain’s takeover of Germany’s colonies during the First World War and the internment of Germans from these theatres. This thesis was awarded the Annual Thesis Prize of the German Historical Institute, London. He is currently working on Japanese attitudes towards internationalism and peace during the period 1914-1924. His rst book, Colonial Captivity during the First World War: Internment and the Fall of the German Empire, 1914–1919 (Cambridge University Press, 2017) has just been published.


 kyoto lectures