Description
In recent years, a more detailed understanding was brought forward as to how the current society of sovereign states evolved. While early contributions assumed that international society originated in Europe and gradually spread globally since the nineteenth century, more recent scholarship highlighted tangled dynamics that helped often violently to globalise a European conception of international society. Particularly in the second half of the nineteenth century, these tangled, yet relatively loosely connected dynamics were replaced with concerted efforts to acquire imperial possessions. To add to these recent discussions, this paper shifts the perspective away from Europe and focuses on how the non-West engaged with this European conception of international society, arguing that it was not merely adoption but a creative adaptation to serve own political interests. To give evidence to this argument, this paper focuses on the Rokumeikan Era in Japan (1883-1887). While it has been previously established that Japan’s entry into the international society has been Janus-faced, meaning that Japan gained “civilised” status while at the same time it produced coercive policies towards “uncivilised” states, the performance of Western diplomatic practices also enabled a new Japanese elite to consolidate its rule and establish a new political Tenno-centred order. Through studying the Rokumeikan Era, IR can further recount the history of the expansion of a European conception of international society as a history of creative adaption that served other domestic and regional purposes.
