On today’s episode, we explain how the circumstances set by the end of Cold War led up to the current crises between Russia and Ukraine.

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#191

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“Government by Assassination” was a term used to describe the tumultuous political situation in Japan in the early 20th century. The rise of fanatic nationalism led to a huge of influx of political murders in Pre-WWII Japan. Perhaps the strangest thing about this period was that Japanese society would often venerate the patriotic intent of these assassins.

On todays’ episode we discuss the origins of hardcore nationalism in Japan, and what factors led to them showing such tolerance towards radical behavior.

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#190

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“Gunboat diplomacy” refers to the pursuit of foreign policy objectives through the threat of force. One of the most notorious case studies of “Gunboat diplomacy” is when Matthew C. Perry forced Japan to dismiss their 200 year policy of isolation and start trading with the U.S.

On todays’ episode we dive into early U.S. relations with Japan, and what led America to taking a more aggressive foreign policy approach.

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#189

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The standard narrative when it comes to Japanese nationalism is that they rapidly modernized out of fear of being colonized by the west. One issue with this narrative is that it assumes that nation states arise via diffusion, rather than through a countries own internal societal circumstances.

On today’s episode we dive into pre-modern Japan looking for traces of national unity. We discuss shoguns, great unifiers, and Japanese proto-nationalism.

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#188

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On today’s episode we discuss how the “way of the samurai” or bushido, fueled the creation of the imperial Japanese nation state.

Bushido is supposedly the value system that governed the behavior of Samurai in feudal Japan. It encouraged them to be loyal, courageous , polite, etc. What’s interesting is that the term “bushido” wasn’t really a thing prior to the 1800s. It was an invented concept used to inspire national identity. Come join us to learn more about how “thinkers” use symbols from the past as a tool to create nationalism.

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Episode #187

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Today we dive into Classical Japan’s transition from a strong central government to feudalism.

During the Heian period, Japan created a court system mimicking the Tang Dynasty of China. Due to high levels of corruption and crony land politics, the Japanese court system gradually deteriorated into a country ruled by powerful private land owners. Today we discuss how this transition applies to Japan’s national identity.

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Episode #186

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Today we kickoff our series on the creation of the Japanese nation state.

On this episode we discuss the first “peoples” of Japan such as the Jōmon and the Yayoi. In addition, we dive into the origins of the first Japanese kingdoms.

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Episode #185

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On today’s episode we discuss how the Chinese Communist Party seized state power during the first half the 20th century.

The CCP’s rise as the sole political structure in China was a long and brutal process. In fact, the Chinese Communist Movement was almost completely wiped out on multiple occasions. On this episode, we explore the friction between the CCP and the Chinese Nationalist Party, along with how the CCP survived near extinction.

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Episode #184

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On today’s episode we discuss the first imperial dynasty of ancient China, the Qin Dynasty.

It was founded by Shi Huangdi who operated according to the precepts of Legalism, a political philosophy that called for a strong central government and authoritarian state control. We explore how Shi Huangdi, or Emperor Qin, used Machiavellian principles to consolidate power. We also ask the question – how does legalist philosophy inspire the actions of Xi Jinping.

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Episode #183

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Today we discuss the development of civilization in the Yellow River region of Northern China and the emergence of the Han Chinese.

China is a multi-ethnic nation with a population of 1.4 Billion people. The Han Chinese are over 90% of the population. Some anthropologist have described the Han as an amalgamation of many ancient ethnicities that share a cohesive culture.

On this episode we explore Ancient China and try to figure out how the Han assimilated so many other groups into their culture.

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Episode #182

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