Oliver Lister

Supervisors: 

• Primary supervisor: Dr Emily Baughan
• Secondary supervisors: Professor Hugo Dobson (School of East Asian
  Studies) and Professor Julie Gottlieb

Thesis abstract: I am intrigued by the role that humanitarian aid played in British foreign policy and in the field of international relations between November 1918 and September 1939. In particular, my project investigates the role that the British government played in response to the Great Kanto Earthquake of September 1923. The earthquake killed between 91,000 and 140,000 people in and around Tokyo and Yokohama and remains the deadliest earthquake in Japanese history. The project examines letters, minutes of Cabinet meetings, and telegrams that are available at the Cadbury Research Library in Birmingham and at the National Archives in London.

My project contributes to the field of historical literature that has recently developed around the history of humanitarian aid and humanitarianism in multiple ways. The project outlines the role that the state in inter-war Britain played in the provision of humanitarian aid overseas. My research analyses how diplomatic relations between Britain and Japan changed after the Anglo-Japanese Alliance that had entailed close diplomatic and military cooperation between the two nations for over twenty years ended in August 1923. My project exemplifies how the recipients of humanitarian aid have shaped the aid that they have received. The project underlines the role that the state in inter-war Britain played in the provision of intellectual relief overseas. Finally, the project highlights the role that intellectual relief played in the foreign policy and international relations of inter-war Britain.