THE DEVELOPMENT OF A DEATH CULT IN 1930s JAPAN AND THE DECISION TO DROP THE ATOM BOMB

In the 1930s Japan developed a death cult which had a profound effect on the conduct of the Japanese armed forces in the Pacific War, 1941–1945. As a result of government directed propaganda campaign after the overthrow of the Shogunate in 1868, the ruling military cliques restored an Imperial system of government which placed Emperor Meiji as the Godhead central to the constitution and spiritual life of the Japanese nation. A bastardised Bushido cult emerged. It combined with a Social-Darwinist belief in Japan's manifest destiny to dominate Asia. The result was a murderous brutality that became synonymous with Japanese treatment of prisoners of war and conquered civilians. Japan's death cult was equally driven by a belief in self-sacrifice characterised by suicidal Banzai charges and kamikaze attacks. The result was kill ratios of Japanese troops in the Pacific War that were unique in the history of warfare. Even Japanese civilians were expected to sacrifice their lives in equal measure in the defence of the homeland. It was for this reason that American war planners came to the shocking estimate that as many as 900,000 Allied troops could die in the conquest of mainland Japan – Operation DOWNFALL. Contrary to the view of numbers of revisionist historians in the post-war period, who have variously argued that the atom bombs were used to prevent Soviet entry into the war against Japan, Francis Pike, author of Hirohito's War, The Pacific War, 1941 – 1945 [Bloomsbury 2015] reaffirms that the nuclear weapon was used for one purpose alone – to bring the war to a speedy end and to save the lives of American troops.     

EUROPE AND THE PROMOTION OF DEMOCRACY IN POST COLD WAR AFRICA: HOW SERIOUS IS EUROPE AND FOR WHAT REASON?

The ending of the Cold War brought new topics on the agendaof the international aid donors. Questions of democracy andhuman rights were voiced with rising intensity not least bythe European Union and by individual European countries. However,when it came to implementing the ambitious principles, boththe EU and the bilateral donors lacked a ‘serious’commitment. This is indicated by European policies towards SouthAfrica, Kenya, Niger and Algeria. The policies of the Europeanstowards Africa in the 1990s have primarily been influenced bysecurity concerns and thus by the narrow national interestsof individual donors. This is particularly manifest in the caseof France which has a dominating position within the developmentcooperation of the EU. Thus, only in very few exceptional instancesis it in the national interest of European donor states to promotemoral issues such as democracy and respect for human rights.In the 1990s such themes have become little more than the rhetoricof politicians and treaties, just as it was during the ColdWar.     

SHAIKH HASINA'S VISIT TO INDIA AND THE FUTURE OF INDO-BANGLADESH RELATIONS

Shaikh Hasina's crushing victory in the December 2008 Bangladesh elections opened a new chapter in her country's relations with Delhi. India had long wanted improvements in cooperation against terrorism and better access to the states of North East India, Bangladesh needed better cooperation over water resources and the trade imbalance. Shaikh Hasina's swift action against insurgent groups trying to operate against India from Bangladesh territory laid the foundations for her very successful visit to India in early 2010 which in turn set the framework for a better future relationship. But in the light of the hostility of many in Bangladesh to improved relations with India, the author examines the options for Indian policy makers. He concludes that the emphasis should be on achieving progress in areas outside security, where progress would be irreversible, while recognising that a real transformation of the relationship would be possible if Shaikh Hasina was able to win the next elections and secure a further term in office.     

FROM 'NATIONHOOD' TO REGIONALISM TO THE NORTH WEST PROVINCE: 'BOPHUTHATSWANANESS' AND THE BIRTH OF THE 'NEW' SOUTH AFRICA

Although majority rule has been achieved in South Africa, thefinal years of one ‘independent’ bantustan, namelyBophuthatswana, and their aftermath, illustrate the problemsof creating a unified identity. Ironically, in the death throesof apartheid, a Pandora's box of ethnic and regionalist claimswas opened. Although these claims were tied to the maintenanceof privileges gained by a tiny minority created through apartheidpolicy, Bophuthatswana had also been sustained by an ideologywhich, although at times highly contradictory, was also indicativeof the space given to twenty years of bantustan nation-building.This article provides a reinterpretation of these complex territoriesby showing how, in the 1990s, in the wake of fundamental politicalchanges in South Africa, the Bophuthatswana regime reshapedits nation-building discourse into a distinctive regionalistcoalition based upon socio-economic and ethnic criteria. Moreover,unlike previous approaches to the region, it shows how contestedterritorial claims were integral to this regionalist movement.Whilst the Bophuthatswana regime finally imploded and its regionalistcoalition was absorbed into South Africa's North West Province,the legacy of the bantustans for South Africa is replete withambiguity. In the post-apartheid era of transition to the NorthWest Province, some of these fault lines, termed ‘Bophuthatswananess’,are discussed. The continuing influence of their core of ‘Batswanaarbiters’ raises pertinent questions concerning the obstaclesto inclusive nation-building.     

FROM BAVARIA TO BOKHARA TO ISLE BREWERS: THE EXTRA-ORDINARY LIFE AND TIMES OF DR THE REVD JOSEPH WOLFF,DD

Hugh Leach is the Society's Historian and the author of Strolling About on the Roof of the World: The First Hundred Years of the Royal Society for Asian Affairs, Routledge Curzon, 2003.

This article is based on a Library Talk given to the Society in February 2007.     

COMMISSION OF RESEARCH: AFRICA: COMMISSION SET UP TO STUDY DEFORESTATION AND EROSION UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE ROYAL AFRICAN SOCIETY

A Note on the psychological aspect of the Desiccation problemcontributed as a Commentary on the proceedings of the Commissionas Summarised in this Journal from October, 1942, to April,1943, by Mr.C.Gillman, C. B. E., former Chief Engineer of theTanganyika Railways and Water Consultant to the Tanganyika Government.