Japan and the drift towards multipolarisation: concluding thoughts

Abstract

Three questions warrant further attention. First, what advantages did the multidisciplinary International Political History method adopted here enjoy over more conventional approaches? This framework facilitated an in-depth analysis of the diverse impacts of the Sino-Soviet Alliance on Japan. The distinction drawn in this study between the external and internal environments permitted the complex interaction between international developments and Japanese domestic trends to be carefully dissected. It found that internal political conflicts occasionally proved more significant than foreign pressures as an influence on policy or conceptions of interest.