These Islands Are Ours - (Studies in Asian Security) by Alexander Bukh (Hardcover)
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<p/><br></br><p><b> About the Book </b></p></br></br>"Territorial disputes are one of the main sources of tension in Northeast Asia. Disputes often arise out of a widely shared public perception that the region in question is of the utmost importance to the nation. That's frequently not the case, at least when it comes to socio-political and economic factors. The tiny and remote islets, known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan, for instance, have no such value. In fact, in the early 1960s, both Japanese and Korean negotiators recognized their insignificance and considered blowing them up rather than resolving their ownership. Today, citizens and groups in both countries have mounted sustained campaigns to protect the islets as the heart of the nation, forcing politicians who would rather ignore the islets altogether to take them into account in their bilateral relationship. Such disputes are taking place throughout the region and have wide-ranging domestic and international consequences. Focusing on non-state actors rather than political elites, Alexander Bukh explains how and why apparently inconsequential territories become central to national and nationalist discourse. These Islands Are Ours draws on a vast array of primary research in four languages, particularly reports produced by the actors, interviews, and governmental data to challenge conventional wisdom. Bukh shows that public campaigns centering on territorial disputes are not about the territory in question. Territorial disputes that were historically unimportant, can become salient when non-state actors bring the issue to the fore of domestic political discourse. This book studies the origins and transformation of such campaigns in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, finding that they originate during times of economic, social, or political crisis. Demands from the public and non-state groups to recover or protect the territory are a rhetorical device used to criticize the perceived failures of the state during periods of upheaval. Because of the widely shared agreement that territory is of utmost importance to the state, disputed territory can be easily turned to this purpose. An unintended consequence of these campaigns is that, as a territory is increasingly identified as a national treasure, or of central value to state wholeness, it emerges as a symbol of national identity. These Islands Are Ours gives us a new way to understand the nature of territorial disputes and how they inform national identities by exploring their social construction, amplification, and ideological consequences"--<p/><br></br><p><b> Book Synopsis </b></p></br></br><p>Territorial disputes are one of the main sources of tension in Northeast Asia. Escalation in such conflicts often stems from a widely shared public perception that the territory in question is of the utmost importance to the nation. While that's frequently not true in economic, military, or political terms, citizens' groups and other domestic actors throughout the region have mounted sustained campaigns to protect or recover disputed islands. Quite often, these campaigns have wide-ranging domestic and international consequences.</p> <p>Why and how do territorial disputes that at one point mattered little, become salient? Focusing on non-state actors rather than political elites, Alexander Bukh explains how and why apparently inconsequential territories become central to national discourse in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. <i>These Islands Are Ours</i> challenges the conventional wisdom that disputes-related campaigns originate in the desire to protect national territory and traces their roots to times of crisis in the respective societies. This book gives us a new way to understand the nature of territorial disputes and how they inform national identities by exploring the processes of their social construction, and amplification.</p><p/><br></br><p><b> Review Quotes </b></p></br></br><br><i>These Islands Are Ours</i> is an important contribution to both the literature on territoriality and territorial conflict and our understanding of Northeast Asian Territorial disputes...It is [the] interaction of domestic and international politics--those two- (or three-) level games--that scholars of territoriality should turn to next. <i>These Islands Are Ours<i> leads the way.--Boaz Atzili "<i>Political Science Quarterly</i>"<br><br>For students with an interest in exploring new methods in East Asian area studies, <i>These Islands</i> is an example of interpretive research that cites a rich tapestry of sources, such as pamphlets, prefectural and government reports, petitions, newspapers, educational material, postcards, advertisements, and stamps... The book makes a valuable contribution to East Asian international relations.--Nidhi Prasad "<i>Journal of Asian Studies</i>"<br><br>Bukh creatively employs a constructivist perspective....He excellently demonstrates how critical junctures and post-WW II reforms enabled greater civic action focused on the injustice of the loss of territory. Highly recommended.--C. W. Herrick "<i>CHOICE</i>"<br><br>Bukh's layering of evidence--whether newspaper articles, interviews, or other media--supports a 'thick description' of the shifting but ultimately meaningful construction of national narratives about identity and territory in Northeast Asia. It is a valuable contribution to the study of international relations in Asia, especially for showing how narratives about territorial disputes are semiotically deployed, interpreted, and transformed.--Ian Parker "<i>Pacific Affairs</i>"<br><br>In this refreshing book, Alexander Bukh marshals an impressive range of evidence and marries it to a theoretically nuanced approach to say something new and original. <i>These Islands Are Ours</i> will appeal to a wide audience that wishes to understand the micro-level processes by which the competing narratives and identities around these disputes are constructed.--Hugo Dobson "University of Sheffield"<br><br>In this valuable contribution to our understanding of territorial disputes in Asia, Alexander Bukh does an admirable job of drawing attention to the internal dynamics in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. This book will be of interest to IR and Asia specialists seeking to understand how 'national identity entrepreneurs' in domestic politics shape societal narratives of territorial disputes, and how also the shifting patterns of their entrepreneurship can be consequential in taking on and eliciting responses from the state in times of deep flux and beyond.--Saadia M. Pekkanen "University of Washington"<br><p/><br></br><p><b> About the Author </b></p></br></br><b>Alexander Bukh</b> is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Victoria University of Wellington. He is the author of <i>Japan's Identity and Foreign Policy: Russia as Japan's 'Other'</i> (2009) and the producer and co-director of the documentary <i>This Island Is Ours: Defending Dokdo/Retrieving Takeshima</i> (2016).
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