Professor Best usually teaches the following courses in the Department:

At undergraduate level:

HY113: From Empire to Independence: The Extra-European World in the Twentieth Century (jointly with other members of the Department)

HY235: Modernity and the State in East Asia: China, Japan and Korea since 1840

At postgraduate level:

HY461: East Asia in the Age of Imperialism, 1839-1945

HY498: Dissertation: LSE-PKU Double Degree MSc in International Affairs; MSc Theory and History of International Relations

HY499: Dissertation

Watch Professor Antony Best talk about his courses, how they are structured and how students can benefit from taking them in order to better understand the world we live in today.

Professor Best also supervises the following PhD students:

Research student	Provisional thesis title
Liam Frahm	A Welcome Return? Britain and the Former Far Eastern Prisoners of War, 1945-54
Richard Hutton	Whitehall and the Man on the Spot: Strategies to Protect and Project British Power in the Interwar Far East

Professor Antony Best's publications include:

• Britain, Japan and Pearl Harbor: Avoiding War in East Asia, 1936-1941, (Routledge, London, 1995).

• British Intelligence and the Japanese challenge in Asia, 1914-1941, (Palgrave: Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2002)

• 'Economic Appeasement or Economic Nationalism?: a political perspective on the British Empire, Japan and the Rise of intra-Asian trade 1933-37,' Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, vol.30, no.2, (May 2002), pp.77-101

• '"Our Respective Empires Should Stand Together": The Royal Dimension in Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1919-1941', Diplomacy and Statecraft, 2005, no.16, pp.259-79

• Also as "Oshitsu-gaiko kara mita Nichi-Ei kankei 1919-1941", in Y.Ito & M.Kawata (eds.), Nijuseki Nihon no tenno to kunshusei-kokusaihikaku no shiten kara 1867-1952 [The Emperor and Monarchy in Twentieth Century Japan from an International Perspective] (Yoshikawa Kobunkan, Tokyo, 2004) 273-302

• 'The Ghost of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance: A Study in Historical Mythmaking', Historical Journal, 2006

• 'Senkanki higashi ajia ni okeru kokusai renmei: kokusai kyocho shugi, chiki shugi, nashonarizimu' [Internationalism, Regionalism and Nationalism in East Asia in the Inter-war Period] in Sadako Ogata & Asahiko Hanzawa (eds.), Guroubalu Govanansu no Rekishiteki Henyo; Kokuren to Kokusai Seijishi [Global Governance in Historical Perspectives; The United Nations and International History] (Minerva Publishing Co. Kyoto, 2007) pp.25-48.

• 'The Birth of the League and the Death of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 1918-1922', in A. Hanzawa & J. Yamaguchi (eds), Japan and the UN in International Politics - Historical Perspectives (Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 2007) pp.10-32.

• 'A Royal Alliance: Court Diplomacy and Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1900-41' in H. Cortazzi, (ed.), Britain and Japan: Biographical Portraits Vol.VI, (Global Oriental, Folkestone, 2007, pp. 63-70. (Also published in International Studies (LSE), 2006, IS/06/512, pp.19-30.)

• '"Monko kaiho" ka, "seiryokuken" ka: senkanki no igirisu, nihon to chugoku mondai' ["Open Door" or "Sphere of Influence": Britain, Japan and South China in the Inter-war Period] in M. Matsuura (ed.), Showa Ajia shugi no jitsu-zō - Nihon no nanshin to Taiwan - Nanyō - Minami Shina [Showa and the Reality of Pan-Asianism - Japan's Southward Advance and Taiwan, the South Seas and South China], (Minerva, Kyoto, 2007) pp.126-47.

• 'The Role of Diplomatic Practice and Court Protocol in Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1867-1900' in Markus Mosslang & Torsten Riotte (eds), The Diplomats' World: The Cultural History of Diplomacy, 1815-1914 (OUP, Oxford, 2008) pp.231-53.

• '"We Are Virtually at War with Russia": Britain and the Soviet Menace in East Asia, 1923-40', Cold War History, 2012.

• ‘The Leith-Ross Mission and British Policy towards East Asia, 1934-37’, International History Review, 2013.

• ‘The British Empire’s Image of East Asia, 1900-41: Politics, Ideology, and International Order’, in Malcolm Murfett (ed.), Shaping British Foreign and Defence Policy in the Twentieth Century: A Tough Ask in Turbulent Times (Basingstoke: Palgrave/Macmillan, 2014) pp.21-40.

• Daiei Teikoku no Shin-Nichi Ha: Kaisen ha Naze Sakerare Nakattaka [British Japanophiles: Why Could Britain and Japan Not Avoid War?] (Chuo Koron Shuppansha, Tokyo, 2015) [translated from the original English-language essays by Dr Tomoki Takeda].

• ‘British Relations with Japan, 1858-2017: An Overview’, in Hugh Cortazzi and Antony Best (eds), British Foreign Secretaries and Japan: Aspects of the Evolution of British Foreign Policy (Renaissance Books, Folkestone, 2018) pp.1-21.

• ‘Sir Samuel Hoare and Japan: An Orthodox Conservative in the 1930s’ in Hugh Cortazzi and Antony Best (eds), British Foreign Secretaries and Japan: Aspects of the Evolution of British Foreign Policy (Renaissance Books, Folkestone, 2018) pp.179-83.

• ‘Sir Alec Douglas-Home and Japan: The Revival of Political Relations, 1961-74’ in Hugh Cortazzi and Antony Best (eds), British Foreign Secretaries and Japan: Aspects of the Evolution of British Foreign Policy (Renaissance Books, Folkestone, 2018) pp.259-64.

• ‘A Royal Alliance: Court Diplomacy and Anglo-Japanese Relations, 1902-41’ in Antony Best, Hugh Cortazzi, and Peter Kornicki, British and Japanese Royal and Imperial Relations, 1868-2018: 150 Years of Association, Engagement and Celebration (Folkestone: Renaissance Books, 2019)

He has also edited the following volumes:

• The International History of East Asia, 1900-1968: Trade, Ideology and the Quest for Order (Routledge, London, 2010).

• Imperial Japan and the World, 1931-1941 (Routledge, 2011).

• [with John Fisher], On the Fringes of Diplomacy: Influences on British Foreign Policy, 1800-1945 (Aldershot, 2011).

• [with Oliviero Frattolillo], Japan and the Great War (Palgrave-Macmillan, Basingstoke, 2015)

• Britain's Retreat from Empire in East Asia, 1905-1980 (Routledge, London, 2016)

• [with Hugh Cortazzi] British Foreign Secretaries and Japan: Aspects of the Evolution of British Foreign Policy (Renaissance Books, Folkestone, 2018).

• [with Peter Kornicki and Hugh Cortazzi] British and Japanese Royal and Imperial Relations, 1868-2018: 150 Years of Association, Engagement and Celebration (Folkestone: Renaissance Books, 2019)

• British Engagement with Japan, 1854–1922. 
The Origins and Course of an Unlikely Alliance (Routledge, London, 2020)

Professor Best is a co-author of International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond (Routledge, 2004) [co-written with J. Hanhimaki, J. Maiolo and K.E. Schulze, 3rd edition, 2016]. 

Current research:

The main focus of his current research is a monograph which will deal with the role of race and monarchy in the shaping of the course of Anglo-Japanese relations in the period from 1854 to 1975. The book will study the way in which Japan was perceived by various groups in Britain such as the royal court, the political parties, the media, industrialists, the financial community, the labour movement and the church, and investigate to what degree domestic politics and perceptions influenced policy towards Japan.

Listen to Professor Best presenting a paper on Japan and the Cold War: An Overview (from 2009).

	British Engagement with Japan, 1854-1922. The Origins and Course of an Unlikely Alliance (2020)
	British Royal and Japanese Imperial Relations, 1868-2018: 150 Years of Association, Engagement and Celebration (2019) [co-edited with Peter Kornicki and Hugh Cortazzi]
	British Foreign Secretaries and Japan, 1850-1990: Aspects of the Evolution of British Foreign Policy (2018) [co-edited with Hugh Cortazzi]
	Britain's Retreat from Empire in East Asia, 1905-1980 (2016)
	Daiei Teikoku no Shin-Nichi Ha: Kaisen ha Naze Sakerare Nakattaka [British Japanophiles: Why Could Britain and Japan Not Avoid War?] (2015) [translated from the original English-language essays by Dr Tomoki Takeda]
	Japan and the Great War (2015) [co-edited with Oliviero Frattolillo]
	Imperial Japan and the World, 1931-1941 (2011)
	On the Fringes of Diplomacy: Influences on British Foreign Policy, 1800-1945 (2011) [with John Fisher]
	The International History of East Asia, 1900-1968: Trade, Ideology and the Quest for Order (2010)
	International History of the Twentieth Century and Beyond (2004) [co-written with J. Hanhimaki, J. Maiolo and K.E. Schulze].
	British Intelligence and the Japanese challenge in Asia, 1914-1941 (2002)
	Britain, Japan and Pearl Harbour. Avoiding War in East Asia, 1936-1941 (1995)

2022

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New article 

Read Professor Antony Best  new open access research article, ‘To Contemplate the Soul of the Oldest Civilization in the World’: Britain and the Chinese Art Exhibition of 1935–36'. 

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2021

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New Books Network podcast

Catch up with Professor Antony Best on New Books Network podcast. He talked about his latest book, British Engagement with Japan: The Origins and Course of an Unlikely Alliance, 1854-1922 (Routledge, 2020) with Shatrunjay Mall, a history PhD student from the University of Wisconsin. Listen to the episode.

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2020

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New book

British Engagement with Japan, 1854-1922: The Origins and Course of an Unlikely Alliance (Routledge) goes beyond existing accounts which concentrate on high politics, strategy and simple assertions about the two countries’ similarities as island empires. It reconsiders the circumstances which led to the unlikely alliance of 1902 to 1922 between Britain, the leading world power of the day and Japan, an Asian, non-European nation which had only recently emerged from self-imposed isolation. Read more

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2019

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New co-edited volume

Dr Best released a new edited book (with Peter Kornicki and the late Sir Hugh Cortazzi) entitled British and Japanese Royal and Imperial Relations, 1868-2018: 150 Years of Association, Engagement and Celebration. The volume, published by Renaissance Books in association with the Japan Society, is divided into three sections, the first of which examines the "royals and imperials" history during the Meiji era; the second assesses the first half of the twentieth century; and the third focuses on post-war history up to the present day. Its appearance marks the abdication of Emperor Akihito and the enthronement of Crown Prince Naruhito in April 2019. Read more about his new publication.

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2018

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New co-edited book by Dr Antony Best

Dr Antony Best released a new co-edited volume in June with Renaissance Books, called British Foreign Secretaries and Japan, 1850-1990: Aspects of the Evolution of British Foreign Policy. The book reviews the role of British Foreign Secretaries in the formulation of British policy towards Japan from the re-opening of Japan in the middle of the nineteenth century to the end of the twentieth century. It also takes a critical look at the history of British relations with Japan over these years. British Foreign Secretaries and Japan, 1850-1990 is part of a 10-volume Japan Society's series, which includes Britain & Japan: Biographical Portraits as well as British Envoys in Japan. The book is co-edited with Hugh Cortazzi, British Ambassador to Japan (1980-1984) and editor or contributor to all the volumes in the Japan Society's series.

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2016

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New book: Britain's Retreat From Empire in East Asia

Dr Antony Best’s new edited volume, Britain's Retreat from Empire in East Asia, 1905-1980, was published by Routledge in September 2016. The book addresses the decline of British power in Asia from a high point in 1905, when Britain’s ally Japan vanquished the Russian Empire, apparently reducing the perceived threat that Russia posed to its influence in India and China, to the end of the twentieth century, when British power had dwindled to virtually nothing. The book considers a range of issues that illustrate the significance and influence of the British Empire in Asia and the nature of Britain’s imperial decline. Subjects covered include the challenges posed by Germany and Japan during the First World War, British efforts at international co-operation in the interwar period, the British relationship with Korea and Japan in the wake of the Second World War, and the complicated path of decolonisation in Southeast Asia and Hong Kong. Order the book.

LSE Excellence in Education award winner

In June 2016, Dr Antony Best won an LSE Excellence in Education Award with other members of the Department. Designed to support the School’s aspiration of creating ‘a culture where excellence in teaching is valued and rewarded on a level with excellence in research’ (LSE Strategy 2020), the Excellence in Education Awards are made, on the recommendations of Heads of Department, to staff who have demonstrated outstanding teaching contribution and educational leadership in their departments.

Dr Antony Best in the Yomiuri Shimbun

Dr Antony Best was interviewed by the Japanese daily, the Yomiuri Shimbun, on 1 February 2016. In his interview, he talks about his recent book, Daiei Teikoku no Shin-Nichi Ha: Kaisen ha Naze Sakerare Nakattaka [British Japanophiles: Why Could Britain and Japan Not Avoid War?]. His book is translated from the original English-language essays by Dr Tomoki Takeda and came out in September 2015.

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2015

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International History PhD student, supervised by Dr Antony Best, wins Institute of Historical Research's Pollard Prize

Cees Heere, a PhD student at the Department, is this year’s recipient of the Institute of Historical Research’s Pollard Prize for the best paper given to one of the Institute’s research seminars by a doctoral student. As a result he will have his paper published in the IHR’s peer-reviewed journal Historical Research and be given books to the value of £200. Mr Heere’s paper, which is entitled ‘The Imperial Politics of Asian Immigration 1900-1914’, was presented to the International History seminar at the IHR, of which Dr Antony Best is one of the convenors, in January this year. This is also very pleasing news for Dr Antony Best, because Mr Heere is one of his PhD students.

International History of Twentieth Century and Beyond, 3rd Edition

The third edition of the hugely successful International History of Twentieth Century and Beyond was out in March 2015 with new updates and additions. The volume, co-authored by our lecturers, Dr Antony Best and Dr Kirsten Schulze, and former lecturers in our department, Professor Jussi M. Hanhimäki and Professor Joseph A. Maiolo, features several updates, namely, new material on the Arab Spring, including specific focus on Libya and Syria and increased debate on the question of US decline and the rise of China. The new edition also includes a new chapter on the international history of human rights and its advocacy organisations, including NGOs, and a timeline to give increased context to those studying the topic for the first time.

Read Professor Jussi M. Hanhimäki's interview about the new edition.

Buy the book on Amazon.