Definition
Pan-Asianism (or Asianism) had a strong influence on political discourse and international relations during the first half of the twentieth century, particularly in East Asia. Pan-Asianist conceptions were diverse but usually focused on the assumed common heritage and fate of ‘yellow’ people vis-à-vis ‘Western’ civilization. As a political doctrine or principle, it first gained influence during the early 1910s in the context of anti-Asian immigration legislation in the United States and during World War One. As a statement of Asian self-determination (‘Asia for the Asians’, Asian Monroe Doctrine) and self-affirmation, it criticised negative and Orientalist portrayals of Asia as an exotic and backward place. It also rejected ‘Euro-American’ imperialism in Asia (‘White Peril’) and demanded the liberation of Asia from ‘Western’ imperialist powers. In this anti-imperialist version,...
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Weber, T. (2021). Pan-Asianism. In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29901-9_259
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