Sean Phillips

Research Topic

The Pan-Pacific Idea & The British Dominions, c. 1920-1950

By the final decades of the nineteenth century, amidst profound changes to the global order, many had begun to forecast that the world's centre of political and economic gravity was shifting eastward, toward the Pacific. The increasing importance and purported coherence of this vast space as a particular sub-global region encouraged the emergence of the Pan-Pacific Idea – a distinct, yet discernable pan movement bearing similarities with Pan-Asianism or Pan-Americanism, spawning numerous initiatives and institutions bearing its name.

My thesis explores the engagement of Dominion actors (principally Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders) with the Pan-Pacific over a series of thematic chapters. Some themes I am exploring include:

• The emergence and influence of the Pan-Pacific as a political philosophy and a distinct sub-global ordering concept in the panoply of pan movements
• The involvement and influence of Dominion intellectuals in the Pan-Pacific Union and Institute of Pacific Relations
• The influence of the Pan-Pacific idea in the emergence of trans-Pacific aviation and broader, developing geo-strategy
• The ways in which the Pan-Pacific idea intersected with notions of regional commerciality
• The influence of the Pan-Pacific idea and the labour movement
• Pan-Pacific thought and the 'global colour line'
• The inter-relation between the Pan-Pacific and the international – particularly the  emerging diplomatic character of the Dominions

I am a Convenor of the Transnational and Global History Seminar (TGHS) at Oxford, a graduate-organised and led seminar series that currently hosts events at Brasenose College. You can find out more about TGHS here: https://global.history.ox.ac.uk/transnational-and-global-history-seminar

I am also Editor-at-Large of the Toynbee Prize Foundation Blog.

You can find me tweeting irregularly at: @SeanPhillips91

Supervisor(s): Professor James Belich, Professor John Darwin