Trousson, Raymond / Vercruysse, Jeroom (dir.), Dictionnaire general de Voltaire. (Champion classiques, references et dictionnaires 18) 1272 p. 2020:10 (Champion, FR) <670-9>
ISBN 978-2-38096-016-7 paper ¥7,064.- (税込) EUR 38.00

世界システムにおける中国、インド、パキスタン
Lashari, Samee, The Rise of the Semi-Core: China, India, and Pakistan in the World-System. 360 pp. 2024:6 (Lexington Books, US) <722-689>
ISBN 978-1-66694-286-6 hard ¥29,172.- (税込) US$ 130.00 *

Since its establishment in Europe, capitalism has witnessed a shift in global politico-economic power dynamics. Some nations ascended to dominate the world economy, while others fell from prominence to poverty. This transformation was particularly evident in the case of China and India, which were once central to the pre-modern global economy with their respective empires but transitioned into peripheries of the capitalist world trade structure. These regions experienced occupation, colonization, de-industrialization, and resource exploitation for the industrialization and modernization of core countries, primarily Western Europe and the United States.The Rise of the Semi-Core: China, India, and Pakistan in the World-System delves into modern capitalist history, unraveling the increasing complexities that give rise to the emergence of a semi-core. It argues that nations must possess both economic and strategic national powers to maintain their hierarchical position within the capitalist world-system. Western powers of the eighteenth century, equipped with superior military capabilities, expanded their dominion globally, including in China and India, converting these regions into peripheries that served the core's interests in terms of raw material provision, product consumption, and facilitating capital flow. Once decolonized, China and India initially adopted a statist model of development, nevertheless these nations could grow only when they aligned with core interests.

世界政治におけるアジア太平洋　第3版
McDougall, Derek, Asia Pacific in World Politics. 3rd ed. 400 pp. 2024:6 (Lynne Rienner, US) <722-691>
ISBN 978-1-962551-02-1 paper ¥8,078.- (税込) US$ 36.00

This new edition of Asia Pacific in World Politics reflects the impact of nearly a decade of significant events and shifts in the region: the escalation of the conflicts between China and the US and China and Taiwan, the changing regional role of Japan, growing numbers of refugees, the Covid-19 pandemic, Indonesia's increasing prominence, and much more. Updated throughout and designed to encourage students to engage with contemporary issues and debates, the book provides a historically grounded, accessible overview of Asia Pacific's dynamic role in the international arena.

April, Funeka Y. / Kanyane, Modimowabarwa et al. (eds.), The BRICS in Africa: Promoting Development? 280 pp. 2023:6 (HSRC Pr., SA) <722-746>
ISBN 978-0-7969-2637-1 paper ¥10,098.- (税込) US$ 45.00

The BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa - have become a strong engine of South-South cooperation, contributing to a significant shift in the global balance of power. They also, taken as a whole, constitute Africa's largest trading partner. The authors of this new collection consider the potential of BRICS-Africa cooperation for promoting sustainable African development.

Bergthaller, Hannes / Chen, You-ting (eds.), Foodscapes of the Anthropocene: Literary Perspectives from Asia. (Studies in Literature, Culture, and the Environment 13) 208 pp. 2024:2 (P. Lang, SZ) <722-747>
ISBN 978-3-631-84706-0 hard ¥14,291.- (税込) SFR 58.00

One of the most important drivers of the Anthropocene was a radical shift in what and how people eat. Industrial agriculture and meat production, new ways of processing, packaging, and distributing food, and the globalization of culinary habits not only upended traditional lifeways around the world but also continue to play a key role in climate change, biodiversity loss, and various other processes that are transforming the Earth system ? now rendering food production increasingly precarious. Nowhere have these changes been more dramatic or consequential than in Asia. The essays in this volume examine how literary works from the Asian continent have responded to the profound changes in the region’s foodscapes. They cover poetry, prose fiction, and literary non-fiction from China, India, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

大西洋の奴隷貿易再考
Eltis, David, Atlantic Cataclysm: Rethinking the Atlantic Slave Trades. 442 pp. 2024:9 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <722-748>
ISBN 978-1-00-951897-0 hard ¥8,646.- (税込) GB￡ 30.00

In this comprehensive work, David Eltis offers a two-thousand-year perspective on the trafficking of people, and boldly intervenes in the expansive discussions about slavery in the last half-century. Using new and underexplored data made available by slavevoyages.org, Eltis offers compelling explanations of why the slave trades began and why they ended, and in the process debunks long-held assumptions, including how bilateral rather than triangular voyages were the norm, and how the Portuguese rather than the British were the leading slave traders. Eltis argues that two-thirds of all enslaved people ended up in the Iberian Americas, where exports were most valuable throughout the slave trade era, and not in the Caribbean or the US. Tracing the mass involvement of people in the slave trade business from all parts of the Atlantic World, Eltis also examines the agency of Africans and their experiences in the aftermath of liberation.

Hang, Xing, The Port: Ha Tien and the Mo Clan in Early Modern Asia. 357 pp. 2024:10 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <722-749>
ISBN 978-1-00-942698-5 hard ¥23,056.- (税込) GB￡ 80.00
ISBN 978-1-00-942696-1 paper ¥5,472.- (税込) GB￡ 18.99

Knaap, Gerrit / Heijer, Henk, Wars Overseas: Military Operations by Company and State Outside Europe 1595-1814. (Military History of the Netherlands) 500 pp. 2024:5 (Leiden U. Pr., NE) <722-750>
ISBN 978-90-8728-406-0 hard ¥27,379.- (税込) GB￡ 95.00 *

Sijpesteijn, Petra (ed.), Medieval Strategies of Entreaty from North Africa to Eurasia. (The Medieval Globe Books) 220 pp. 2024:5 (Arc Humanities Pr., UK) <722-753>
ISBN 978-1-80270-174-6 hard ¥32,566.- (税込) GB￡ 113.00

支配者の転換－コンゴ、日本、タイ、ハワイ、グローバルなパターン
Strathern, Alan, Converting Rulers: Kongo, Japan, Thailand, Hawaii and Global Patterns, 1450-1850. 350 pp. 2024:8 (Cambridge U. Pr., UK) <722-754>
ISBN 978-1-108-47716-1 hard ¥23,052.- (税込) GB￡ 79.99
ISBN 978-1-108-70210-2 paper ¥7,201.- (税込) GB￡ 24.99

Why did so many rulers throughout history risk converting to a new religion brought by outsiders? In his award-winning Unearthly Powers (2019), Alan Strathern set out a theoretical framework for understanding the relation between religion and political authority based on a distinction between two kinds of religion - immanentism and transcendentalism - and the different ways they made monarchy sacred. This ambitious and innovative companion volume tests and substantiates this theory using case studies from Kongo (1480-1530), Japan (1560-1614), Ayutthaya (Thailand, 1660-1690), and Hawaii (1800-1830). Through in-depth analysis of key turning points, Strathern demonstrates how theoretical arguments can be deployed to understand why warlords, chiefs and kings across the world did or did not convert to Christianity. Though this work examines a unique tapestry of characters and stories, these examples ultimately demonstrate that global patterns of conversion can be established to illuminate the religious geography of the world today.

Xia, Nai, Studies in Silk Road Archaeology. 599 pp. 2024:2 (Springer, GW) <722-756>
ISBN 978-981-9974-74-0 hard ¥29,168.- (税込) EUR 119.99

Sutoris, Peter / Pradhan, Uma, Development Reimagined: Bold Directions Towards a Thriving World. 264 pp. 2025:1 (Hurst, UK) <722-198>
ISBN 978-1-911723-13-4 hard ¥7,205.- (税込) GB￡ 25.00

Imagining a better future is at the heart of development. But mainstream development models are driven by a very narrow, Western- centric set of ideas about what it means to be human. What could be possible if we let ourselves imagine differently? As our world continues to evolve at breakneck speed and faces unprecedented crises-from the decaying environment to cascading inequality- the need for bold new directions for development has never been greater. Peter Sutoris and Uma Pradhan put a spotlight on the thought- provoking visions of leading theorists, activists and practitioners for rethinking development as a political project towards more equitable futures. Questioning top-down economic frameworks, they explore transformative ideas-from degrowth to indigenous knowledge-that may enable us to address the complexities of our rapidly changing global landscape. They consider how the world can chart a path towards reconciling the moral case for eradicating poverty with these critical perspectives to advance a more ethical approach, one that is sensitive to history, diversity, and the challenges and opportunities of this moment. If development is to remain relevant today, it must reinvent itself-and finally listen to voices on the ground.