Wolf Mendl – författare

This volume provides a timely and expert analysis of Japan's Asia policy as the country continues to address the future through trying to cope with the burden of a chequered past. Dr Mendl locates his expostion of Japan's policy towards both North-East and South-East Asia in a full historical and cultural context and importantly takes due account of the underlying and potent factor of national identity in shaping international outlook. He begins his study with a discussion of the enigma of Japanese policy expressed in debate over whether or not that policy expresses a calculated grand design. A corresponding enigma emerges in Dr Mendl's exposition of Japan's policy towards a part of the world with which it shares a geographical location and a measure of identity but one which, he maintains, cannot be separated from its engagement at the global level. In exploring the theme of how Japan is confronted by the problem of reconcling its relations with Asia with pursuing a global role in unchartered post-Cold War waters, Dr.Mendl makes a lucid and scholarly contribution to the debate about Japan's place in a world which it has helped to shape through its economic performance and example.

This volume provides a timely and expert analysis of Japan's Asia policy as the country continues to address the future through trying to cope with the burden of a chequered past. Dr Mendl locates his expostion of Japan's policy towards both North-East and South-East Asia in a full historical and cultural context and importantly takes due account of the underlying and potent factor of national identity in shaping international outlook. He begins his study with a discussion of the enigma of Japanese policy expressed in debate over whether or not that policy expresses a calculated grand design. A corresponding enigma emerges in Dr Mendl's exposition of Japan's policy towards a part of the world with which it shares a geographical location and a measure of identity but one which, he maintains, cannot be separated from its engagement at the global level. In exploring the theme of how Japan is confronted by the problem of reconcling its relations with Asia with pursuing a global role in unchartered post-Cold War waters, Dr.Mendl makes a lucid and scholarly contribution to the debate about Japan's place in a world which it has helped to shape through its economic performance and example.

Japan's relations with South East Asia differ significantly in quantity and quality from relations with its immediate neighbours in North East Asia. Since the opening of the country in the mid-nineteenth century, Japan's interest in this vast and geographically remote area has varied over time. The one hundred and thirty years under review in these two volumes can be divided into three historical periods:· 1868 to the outbreak of the Second World War· the Pacific War (1941-1945) and the effort to establish a greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere· the Cold War years (1947-1990) and the issues which have arisen since then.This unique set gathers together over fifty journal and newspaper articles from otherwise scattered and difficult to obtain sources along with previously unpublished speeches, creating an invaluable reference tool for both researchers and students in the field.

First published in 1984, Western Europe and Japan Between the Superpowers is a challenging contribution to the great debate over Western security. Instead of lining up with those who favour the construction of a global alliance under American leadership or those who want neutralism or non-alignment, Wolf Mendl accepts some of the premises of both and argues for a third course.Taking a long view, he suggests that Japan and the three major states of Western Europe should collaborate in pursuing policies which retain a basic but limited security relationship with the United States and at the same time reassure the Soviet Union that its security is not threatened, seeking to make it a partner rather than adversary in creating a more peaceful world order.Wolf Mendl concludes his broad and reflective historical analysis of the postwar era with a discussion of the areas in which the European states and Japan could enter a fruitful collaboration; sometimes acting in parallel and sometimes together.