Research Catalog

Opium's long shadow : from Asian revolt to global drug control

Title
Opium's long shadow : from Asian revolt to global drug control / Steffen Rimner.
Author
Rimner, Steffen, 1983-
Publication
  • Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2018.
  • ©2018

Items in the Library & Off-site

Filter by

1 Item

StatusFormatAccessCall NumberItem Location
TextUse in library JFE 19-171Schwarzman Building - Main Reading Room 315

Details

Description
x, 373 pages : illustrations, maps; 25 cm
Summary
The League of Nations Advisory Committee on the Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs, created in 1920, reversed almost eight decades of political turmoil over opium trafficking, which was by far the largest state-backed drug trade in the age of empire. Opponents of opium had long struggled to rein in the profitable drug. Opium's Long Shadow shows how diverse local protests crossed imperial, national, and colonial boundaries to gain traction globally and harness public opinion as a moral deterrent in international politics after World War I. Steffen Rimner traces the far-flung itineraries and trenchant arguments of reformers--significantly, feminists and journalists--who viewed opium addiction as a root cause of poverty, famine, "white slavery," and moral degradation. These activists targeted the international reputation of drug-trading governments, first and foremost Great Britain, British India, and Japan, becoming pioneers of the global political tactic we today call naming and shaming. But rather than taking sole responsibility for their own behavior, states in turn appropriated anti-drug criticism to shame fellow sovereigns around the globe. Consequently, participation in drug control became a prerequisite for membership in the twentieth-century international community.--
Subject
  • League of Nations. Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs
  • Völkerbund. Advisory Committee on Traffic in Opium and Other Dangerous Drugs
  • 1900-1999
  • Opium trade > History > 20th century
  • Drug control > International cooperation > History > 20th century
  • Social reformers > History > 20th century
  • Drug control > International cooperation
  • Opium trade
  • Social reformers
  • SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General
  • Opium
  • Opiumhandel
  • Opiumkrieg
  • Drogenpolitik
  • Sozialreform
Genre/Form
History.
Bibliography (note)
  • Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-358) and index.
Contents
Introduction -- Thunders before the storm -- The porosity of international law -- Grounds of objection : India, America, Asia -- Britain's last defense : the anti-opium cause on trial -- The Japanese blueprint and its American discovery -- Activists into diplomats : toward the International Opium Commission -- The drugs of war : Germany, Japan, and the morphine threat -- Toward international accountability for transnational harm -- Conclusion.
Call Number
JFE 19-171
ISBN
  • 9780674976306
  • 0674976304
LCCN
  • 2018012858
  • 40028571198
OCLC
1028623902
Author
Rimner, Steffen, 1983- author.
Title
Opium's long shadow : from Asian revolt to global drug control / Steffen Rimner.
Publisher
Cambridge, Massachusetts : Harvard University Press, 2018.
Copyright Date
©2018
Type of Content
text
Type of Medium
unmediated
Type of Carrier
volume
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 287-358) and index.
Chronological Term
1900-1999
Other Standard Identifier
40028571198
Research Call Number
JFE 19-171
View in Legacy Catalog