Democratic Peace Theory Essay Sample

International Relations of East Asia

Section I
International Anarchy
The international anarchy is of great importance to the countries across the globe. It will bring about a central system that will benefit people across the globe like trade, employment, and emergency services. Having a good international system ensures people can benefit from issues pertaining security. Currently, the international anarchy brought about security dilemma.

Democracy pertains to the source of peace. Democracy shows that a nation or country has peace in it and under very strict conditions would it use their military force to overrule the country (Week 2 slide 20). Democracy across the globe among nations brings about progress in the both countries. They both benefit from each other because they have a standard way of communication towards each other. Lack of democratic peace will lead to serious damage in terms of relations among nations. People in the countries will leave in fear of dying and will have to carry the burden of the war such as military service and higher taxes.
Having democratic peace opens up opportunities for Asian politics and the people at large. They are immune to problems while traveling to other countries. Apart from that, the Asians who work or would want to work in international places have a better chance of inhabiting with the host. In the end, the country will benefit from foreign currency coming to the country.

Meiji Restoration

Meiji was an emperor who brought about the banning of ‘barbarian’ to the country. He was responsible for leading the campaign which was to throw away foreigners from the country (Week 3 slide 18). There was an infamous slogan at the time; expel the barbarians and honor the emperor. The motive was to bring down the anti-shogunate movement which it did in the 1867. The Meiji government had a number of policies in its book. It was to set up westernization of Japan on their first mission. The sole purpose was to defend its national independence. It was to create a strong army and a rich country. In 1889, the country reduced its first modern constitution called Meiji constitution. It gave sovereign power to the Emperor but had an elected legislature, Diet.
The move by Meiji has its benefits and flaws. It benefited the country by freeing them from western rule. However, undertaking such a move in modern times will bring about more hatred and economic suffering in the country. Foreigners out to benefit from the country, the same way the citizens want to benefit from the international relation.

Northern Expedition

In the pursuit of better grounds and fertile areas, Sun organized a team of people and started the exploration to the northern areas (Week 5 slide 8). The exploration party was Kuomintang (KMT). Founded by Sun Yat-sen in the early 1920s with the aim of creating a better rise of nationalism in Chinese commoners such as the May 4th movement. The KMT had great support from the Soviet Union which had hope in the cause and what it aims to bring into light. The KMT was to establish better grounds for the Asians at a large by exploring other places in the north. The Asian grew tired of the German rule and had to create its government and nations. However, Sun did not make to reach far as he died in 1924. Chiang Kai-shek took over the leadership and in 1925, he helped KMT establish a provisional government while settling at Guangzhou. The expedition bore the success in the end as it was in a position to reach Beijing in 1928.
The Northern Expedition shows the strength and purposes the forefathers of Asia took it upon themselves to take unknown task and discover new areas. Asian politics should focus more on the benefits of the people and what it will achieve for the new generation.

Fascism

Fascism is the extreme version of nationalism. There is a couple of properties that will define fascism. People believe in superior over races or nations such as the German’s identity as Arya race (Week 6 slide 12). There exist total obedience among the people towards their nation and leader. A fascism nation has a desire to have territorial aggrandizement. Fascism also provides aggression in terms of international justification. Anyone found not following the rules will suffer great punishment from the government. Japan had a similar system known as State Shintoism.
Fascism in a government has its pros and cons. The major pros of the system are the obedience given to the government by the people. It will receive full attention from its people, and there is guarantee of less aggression among the citizens. They will be in a position to rule the country as they wish since there is a boundary definition among the various classes within the country. The major con to the system is a lack of international support. The international countries will not allow people to visit the country for fear of their people being diminished or suffer. Fascism is not an option if the Asian community wants to benefit from international trade.

Section II

Chinese and Japanese reaction to Western imperialism
The Chinese reacted differently to the Japanese pertaining the Western imperialism matter. The Chinese rejected offers from Britons and Portuguese to establish trade markets in their area (Kagan, par 10). They were comfortable with their provision from tributaries and did not see any importance in taking up the westerners in their country. The western imperialism was negative towards the experiences the Chinese got during the western invention and Opium wars. Embarrassment engulfed the Chinese monarchy to the point of Chinese feeling disgusted by their emperor’s decision of not throwing out the ‘foreign devils’.
Japan took in western imperialism in a positive attitude. They kept the visitors comfortable in their lands (Kagan par 17). The United States treated the Japanese way much better than how the Europeans treated the Chinese. The failure towards Tokugawa shogunate’s rule of expelling foreigners led to the restoration of the autocratic government. It was under the rulership of Meiji Emperor. The Japanese wanted to be better than their China counterparts and embraced the technology from Western regions. They sent out some of their people to western countries to get adequate military training. Their skills helped them in fighting the First World War and gained popularity across the globe. The information gathered shows the great importance of imperialism towards other regions. The country stands to gain from international relations unlike limiting their people and country.

World War II in Asia

The differences between the Asian countries brought about the start of the Second World War. The First World War began in the European region but included the Japanese in its war (Layne pg 207). The Japanese benefited greatly from the way as it was in a position to grow their military skills. They were so good at it that it was in a position to defeat the Russians. The action spiked the Japanese to feel superior to the Chinese and Koreans. It began attacking the Chinese government and trying to overrule them. The Chinese had no option but to fight back. Their major failure was the lack of proper equipment and training for the military. The fight back was unsuccessful at their military suffered serious damages. It was the time they accepted international help in order to fight back.
The Second World War brought about great machinery and weapons (Layne pg 211). The Japanese suffered a major blow when the United States, a major help to them in war, cut off its oil supply. The army suffered immensely as all of their machineries used oil. The United States joined forces with China, United Kingdom, and Netherlands to bring down Japan. They had enough of the Japanese attempts to war and had to cool them down before things extend to higher levels. In the end, the Japanese government and military surrendered, and there was peace in the end. However, the war claimed more than fifty million lives and was the largest numbered compared to World War one.

Work Cited

Kagan, Robert. "Not Fade Away: Against the Myth of American Decline," 17 January 2012. Brooking.edu. PDF. 23 March 2015.
Layne, Christopher. "This Time It's Real: The End of Unipolarity and the Pax Americana." International Studies Quarterly. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. 203-213. Book.
Mishima, Dr. Ko. POLS Week 1 International Relations. Stroud Hall 422, Jan 2, PowerPoint Presentation
Mishima, Dr. Ko. POLS Week 2 International Relations. Stroud Hall 422, Jan 28, PowerPoint Presentation
Mishima, Dr. Ko. POLS Week 3 Chinese and Japanese Response to Western Imperialism. Stroud Hall 422, Feb 4, PowerPoint Presentation
Mishima, Dr. Ko. POLS Week 4 Washington System; Japanese Aggression in Asia. Stroud Hall 422, Jan 2, PowerPoint Presentation
Mishima, Dr. Ko. POLS Week 5 Pacific War. Stroud Hall 422, Jan 2, PowerPoint Presentation