Introductory Lecture: Postwar International Political History

The flow of international politics is fast. It is difficult to explain what is related to what and how. While I was feeling this daily frustration, I received an offer from Keio University Press to write a textbook related to international politics. I decided to compile a text that would help general readers and beginners grasp the major trends of the history the world has followed since World War II.

What to write and how? Starting from the end of World War II was decided immediately, but since it is impossible to cover every event in the world, I consulted with my co-editor, Professor Madoka Fukuda of Hosei University, and established several perspectives.

The first is the vertical thread of chronological division. Chapter 1 covers the period from the start of the Cold War to the mid-1960s, a time when various crises occurred in different regions and the Cold War intensified. Chapter 2 covers the era of detente until the end of the 1970s. Chapter 3 covers the "New Cold War," where tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union rose again, and the end of the Cold War, which concluded with the unification of Germany. Chapter 4 covers the era of American unipolarity from the early 1990s to the 2008 global financial crisis. Finally, Chapter 5 covers the period from then until the arrival of the new coronavirus. The ratio of pages is approximately 4 for the Cold War period to 3 for the post-Cold War period.

The other perspective, serving as the horizontal thread, is the sections arranged by country and region. This is perhaps the most significant feature of this book. In the chapters on the Cold War period, Section 1 is assigned to the U.S. and Soviet Union, Section 2 to Europe, Section 3 to the Middle East, Section 4 to Asia, and Section 5 to Japan. In the post-Cold War chapters, Russia was moved to Section 2. By reading each section of each chapter vertically, one can grasp the progress of international politics in individual regions.

By reading the sections in order for each chapter, the interaction between great power relations and regional international politics of that era becomes visible. To help readers perceive international political history not just as a chain of events but as a history of politics, I have prepared "questions" at the beginning of each chapter and section that serve as the intersection of the vertical and horizontal threads. Why did the U.S. and Soviet Union choose confrontation over cooperation? Which regions were affected by detente and which were not? Why was the end of the Cold War possible? Why does the United States confront China? It may sound a bit heavy, but I hope you will first enjoy the journey through history with this book at your leisure.

Introductory Lecture: Postwar International Political History

Satoru Mori (Co-editor)

Keio University Press

320 pages, 2,860 yen (tax included)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time this magazine was published.