Analyzing the multifaceted receptions of Machiavelli from early modernity to the present history of Northeast Asia, this book explores a better East-West dialogue through which Machiavelli's political philosophy can be appropriated properly in Northeast Asian practices. First, comparing the receptions of Machiavelli in Europe with the early introduction of his texts in Northeast Asia, it investigates what has been missing from the reception of his ideas in Northeast Asia. Second, examining the imperative issues which haven't been construed appropriately even in recent reinterpretations of Machiavelli's political philosophy in Northeast Asia, it searches for a direction of East-West dialogue through which Machiavelli's political philosophy is not inordinately contextualized within the sociopolitical demands of Northeast Asian societies in accordance with time and place. Third, given the continuing interest in Machiavelli's political realism, it examines the different conjunctions of his political realism with diverse traditional and contemporary political thinking in Northeast Asia. This book will be attractive to scholars in political philosophy, history, political theory, comparative philosophy, and area studies focused on East Asia, as well as scholars working in the field of comparative literature.

Analyzing the multifaceted receptions of Machiavelli from early modernity to the present history of Northeast Asia, this book explores a better East-West dialogue through which Machiavelli’s political philosophy can be appropriated properly in Northeast Asian practices. First, comparing the receptions of Machiavelli in Europe with the early introduction of his texts in Northeast Asia, it investigates what has been missing from the reception of his ideas in Northeast Asia. Second, examining the imperative issues which haven’t been construed appropriately even in recent reinterpretations of Machiavelli’s political philosophy in Northeast Asia, it searches for a direction of East-West dialogue through which Machiavelli’s political philosophy is not inordinately contextualized within the sociopolitical demands of Northeast Asian societies in accordance with time and place. Third, given the continuing interest in Machiavelli’s political realism, it examines the different conjunctions of his political realism with diverse traditional and contemporary political thinking in Northeast Asia. This book will be attractive to scholars in political philosophy, history, political theory, comparative philosophy, and area studies focused on East Asia, as well as scholars working in the field of comparative literature.

To form a truer portrait of Northeast Asian perspectives on modernity, this book presents a broad range of analyses from philosophical and political-philosophical scholars specializing in the region. The book considers the encounter between "Western" modernity and "Eastern" tradition not as a simple clash of cultures, but as a generative and hybridizing process of negotiation. It examines the concrete manifestations of modernity in various intellectual and political movements that attempted to radically restructure Northeast Asian societies. And through these situated perspectives, it rethinks and redefines the idea of "modernity" itself, challenging and presenting alternatives to Western-centric thinking on the topic. This book will be of particular interest to political philosophers, political theorists, comparative philosophers, regional specialists in East Asia, and all scholars grappling with the perplexities of global "modernity."

This book analyzes the reception of Leo Strauss and his political philosophy in Northeast Asia. By juxtaposing the central idea of Strauss’s political philosophy with the question of modernity, the contributors explore the eclectic adaptations of Strauss in Northeast Asian countries as a philosophical appropriation across cultures. Examining how Strauss’s philosophy was first introduced in Northeast Asia, the book sheds light on the similarities and differences in experiences, challenging the dominant approach which attributes various receptions of Strauss in Northeast Asia solely to sociopolitical circumstances. This book also seeks to move beyond a China-centric approach to investigate the possible transcultural appeals of Strauss’s political philosophy by exploring the cases of Japan and South Korea. Appealing to a wide network of scholars and practitioners in East Asia engaged in rethinking cultural particularities, this volume will be attractive to upper-level undergraduate students, graduate students, and advanced researchers in political philosophy, political theory, and Asian politics.

As rapid economic development brings increasing uncertainty in East Asia, interest in a new version of republicanism, termed iscalled neo-Roman republicanism, is growing across the region. Conceptualized as liberty as non-domination, this new form of republicanism has inspired not only Western but also East Asian political theorists. However, neo-Roman republican ideas in Northeast Asian countries continue to face serious conceptual and political challenges, which scholarly literature on both republicanism and on East Asian politics has largely failed to confront. This book addresses these challenges by surveying the latest theoretical contributions to the studies of republicanism in Western countries and the latest interpretations of how republicanism, including both communitarian republicanism and neo-Roman republicanism, has been appropriated in countries in East Asia. In particular, it deals with the key question of whether liberty as non-domination can work in non-Western contexts where the fundamental tenets of liberal democracy, such as moral individualism and value pluralism, do not predominate. Across three sections, the chapters first provide a conceptual overview of republicanism as a global political theory, they then consider how republicanism has historically been received, resisted, and translated into East Asia., and Ffinally, they examine how historically informed possibilities fit with the emergent needs of contemporary Northeast Asian societies. Overall, the contributors show that republicanism is an always-ongoing project, whose terms must be interpreted and translated into the various communities they inform. Normative considerations about whether or how republicanism applies in East Asia cannot be divorced from historical and empirical approaches which consider the various ways in which republican ideals reflect the realities of life there. Dealing with the issue of republicanism from a new, comparative perspective, this book will have broad appeal to students and scholars of Asian studies, comparative political theory, political philosophy, sociology, and history.

Two late-developing nations, Japan and Italy, similarly obsessed with achieving modernity and with joining the ranks of the great powers, have traveled parallel courses with very different national identities. In this audacious book about leadership and historical choices, Richard J. Samuels emphasizes the role of human ingenuity in political change. He draws on interviews and archival research in a fascinating series of paired biographies of political and business leaders from Italy and Japan. Beginning with the founding of modern nation-states after the Meiji Restoration and the Risorgimento, Samuels traces the developmental dynamic in both countries through the failure of early liberalism, the coming of fascism, imperial adventures, defeat in wartime, and reconstruction as American allies. Highlights of Machiavelli's Children include new accounts of the making of postwar Japanese politics—using American money and Manchukuo connections—and of the collapse of Italian political parties in the Clean Hands (Mani Pulite) scandal.The author also tells the more recent stories of Umberto Bossi's regional experiment, the Lega Nord, the different choices made by Italian and Japanese communist party leaders after the collapse of the USSR, and the leadership of Silvio Berlusconi and Ishihara Shintar on the contemporary right in each country.

In The Legality and Legitimacy of the Use of Force in Northeast Asia, Brendan Howe and Boris Kondoch bring together distinguished authors with extensive Northeast Asian backgrounds to offer a diverse and comprehensive evaluation of when it is right, from regional perspectives, to use force in international relations. The use of force in international relations has been severely curtailed by pragmatic considerations of international order, and further constrained by positive international law. In Northeast Asia, the prohibition of aggression has remained uncontested. Strict adherence to non-intervention in Northeast Asia has, however, increasingly come under attack from internal and external normative communities. The contributors, therefore, use regional legal, normative, cultural, and historical insights to shed light on the contemporary positions of Northeast Asian political communities with regard to the use of force.