ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the conditions faced by settler colonialism in the interwar years through the lens of Manchukuo, the Japanese puppet state in northeast China from 1932 to 1945. 1 Although Manchukuo cannot be seen primarily as a settler colony, it was in significant ways a response to the reality and projected future of a settler colonial society. After World War I, the world saw a radically altered relationship between imperialism and nationalism, and it was the settler communities that first felt the heat of this changed relationship. In Manchuria, the threat of a rising Chinese nationalism seeking to integrate the region more completely with the nation-state caused these communities to articulate a vision of sovereignty, an alliance with Chinese groups, and formal independence from Japan. At the same time, they were utterly dependent upon the Japanese military, which absorbed their ideas but over time transformed them into a full-fledged militarist project that often ran roughshod over the interests of both settlers and the local population.
