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Review Of The Book Imposing Peace And Prosperity: Australia, Social Justice And Labour Reform In Occupied Japan By C. De Matos, Leon Wolff

Leon Wolff

Extract:

Christine de Matos finds little evidence of an Australia imprint on Occupation policy on Japan. If anything, Australia’s policy legacy on post-war Japan was “negligible” (p. 151): its proposals for structural reform were “neglected” (p.147); its practical policy inputs “arbitrary” (p. 74); and its engagement in Occupation control machinery a mere “preten[ce] to Allied cooperation and policy contributions” (p.74). This hardly is a promising basis for a book-length inquiry into Australia’s involvement in “imposing peace and prosperity in Occupied Japan”.