National Pasts in Europe and East Asia

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.

P. W. Preston is Professor of Political Sociology at the University of Birmingham, UK. His most recent publication is Singapore in the Global System: Relationship, Structure and Change (Routledge, 2007).

1. National Pasts in Europe and East Asia 2. The Scale and Pace of Change Recalled 3. Available Lessons: Private Memories and Wider European Agendas 4. Europe: General Crisis, Collapse and Recovery 5. Uncomfortable Lessons: The European Union and the USA, 1989/91-2008 6. Reading the Ongoing Changes: European Identity 7. Sweeping Change in East Asia: Political Leaders and the Experience of Violence 8. East Asia: General Crisis, Collapse and National Development 9. Contested Compromises: National Pasts in Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Bangkok 10. Japan/China: National Pasts and the Reordering of East Asia 11. Europe and East Asia: Intermingled Pasts and Changing Identities 12. Afterword: War is Failure