Located geographically in the East, but often identified with the West, Japan's role as a world power over the last century and a half remains curiously inconsistent in mainstream international relations (IR). By examining Japan's often under-appreciated role in the international history of wealth and power, we argue that this tells us more about the distorting impact on IR theory of Eurocentrism and realism than it tells us about Japan's role in world history. Symptomatic of these distortions are Japan's exclusion from or marginalization within, the first round of modernization before 1914, and the accompanying under-recognition of its role as a model and hub for Northeast Asia's capitalist development. Also occluded is Japan's key post-1945 role in both underpinning America's superpower status, and promoting the capitalist world order in Asia. Mainstream IR theory provides poor foundations for both academic and policy analysis of Japan's important world role.

中文翻译：

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在主流国际关系中重新思考日本

日本位于东方，但通常与西方相同，在过去一个半世纪中，日本作为世界强国的角色在主流国际关系 (IR) 中仍然奇怪地不一致。通过考察日本在国际财富和权力历史中经常被低估的角色，我们认为这更多地告诉我们欧洲中心主义和现实主义对国际关系理论的扭曲影响，而不是它告诉我们日本在世界历史中的角色。这些扭曲的症状是日本被排斥在内部或被边缘化，1914 年之前的第一轮现代化，以及随之而来的对其作为东北亚资本主义发展模式和枢纽作用的认识不足。同样被忽视的是日本在 1945 年后在支撑美国超级大国地位方面的关键作用，推动亚洲资本主义世界秩序。主流的国际关系理论为日本重要的世界角色的学术和政策分析提供了较差的基础。