Norm-Driven Change - The International Normative System and the Origins of Japanese Revisionism (Paperback)

This book deals with the source of political revisionism. In explaining why some states choose a revisionist path and challenge the inter-national system, I emphasize the impact of normative power on potential revisionist states. In addressing the question of political re-visionism, I construct an analytical model called "norm-driven change"-a mechanism whereby the international normative system interacts with the domestic normative system to shape domestic policy. The norm-driven change model is applied to the Japanese political development from the 1850s to the 1930s. Carefully scrutinizing the correlations between the international normative system and domestic politics, the study concludes that Japanese foreign policy was stable and congruent with the international normative system when the nature of the system was relatively stable (1850s 1910s). Critical shifts in Japanese foreign policy during the 1920s and 1930s occurred in conjunction with the increasing uncertainty of the normative environment.