League of Nations and the East Asian Imperial Order, 1920–1946

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.

“The book is a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the League’s work, especially in China, which offers historians many valuable insights and starting points for further research. … the book outlines some of the origins of China’s operations in international organizations, evolving from a semi-colonial recipient of international aid to one of the world’s most powerful states, aspiring to be a leader in global multilateral politics in the twenty-first century.” (Thomas Gidney, H-Soz-Kult, hsozkult.de, November 2, 2022)“This is a meticulously researched work based largely on primary archival sources. The use of sources … presents the perspective of governmental and League actors. In doing so, Goto-Shibata shows not only the immense influence that Western powers … had on the League’s technical work in Asia but also the sympathy of League officials towards the countries they operated in. … the book is a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the League’s work, especially in China, which offers historians many valuable insights and starting points for further research.” (Thomas Gidney, Connections, October 28, 2022)“Harumi Goto-Shibata is … interested in the practices and the actors constituting the fabric of international order, including the work of international civil servants, cooperation with national authorities, and the importance of conferences and forums. … Goto-Shibata focuses on how the League of Nations promoted international cooperation in East Asia; she stresses the importance of ‘social and humanitarian works,’ among others in China, which have been neglected by other historians working on the region … .” (Quincy Cloet, Diplomatica, Vol. 4 (2), August, 2022)“This book is a valuable contribution to the scholarship on the League, which is enjoying a significant renaissance … . In fact, the most growing area in this ‘new history’ of the League is its social affairs. ‘Social and technical issues’ which this book deals with are: opium (and dangerous drug) control, technical cooperation … and trafficking in women. … And it has a distinct value because many of these works still focus largely on Euro-American contexts.” (Tomoko Akami, The East Asian Journal of British History, Vol. 8, 2021)

• 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.