History Education and International Relations

This is the first in-depth study to examine the implications of history education in the context of international relations (interstate and transnational), focusing on Japanese textbooks as the principal case study. The author argues that despite a widespread recognition that our grasp of history has some relevance to our views and attitudes towards foreign countries and peoples, ergo ultimately its impact on national policy, there appears to be little coherent discussion of such a significant topic and its practical applications in the field of International Relations. This study, therefore, develops a conceptual framework and directs attention to the factors which predetermine the perceptions and attitudes of the public and policy-makers and in doing so searches for the roots of their world view. The book addresses the following issues: Government Influence on the Domestic Educational Environment; The Domestic Environment and its Interaction with the External Environment; History Education in Practice: A case of Japan; The Japanese History Textbook Disputes in the Asian Context (Parts I and II); Twenty-five Years On - The Task of Coming to Terms with the Past.