ABSTRACT

With the rise of industrial capitalism in Europe and the related imposition of colonial rule in much of East Asia, both Europe and East Asia have intertwined histories that continue to shape their political thinking and political decision making. The contemporary interactions of the two regions – now once again major trading partners – will both depend upon and facilitate deeper understandings of their respective sets of national pasts. This book compares national pasts as well as the current processes of change taking place in Europe and East Asia, including the dynamics of the European Union in Europe and the re-emergence of the historical centre of China in East Asia. It argues that as the change unfolds in the economic, social and political fields, the various national pasts embedded with the polities of the two regions will also need to be revisited and reworked. This book makes an invaluable contribution to research on comparative politics, as well as studies on South East Asia and Europe.

chapter |28 pages

Available lessons

Private memories and wider European agendas

chapter |36 pages

Europe

General crisis, collapse and recovery 1

chapter |22 pages

Uncomfortable lessons

The European Union and the USA, 1989/91–2008

chapter |8 pages

Reading the ongoing changes

European identity 1

chapter |15 pages

Sweeping change in East Asia

Political leaders and the experience of violence

chapter |35 pages

East Asia

General crisis, collapse and national development

chapter |24 pages

Contested compromises

National pasts in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Bangkok

chapter |32 pages

Japan and China

National pasts and the reordering of East Asia

chapter |22 pages

Europe and East Asia

Intermingled pasts and changing identities

chapter |9 pages

Afterword

War is failure