Politics East And West A Comparison Of Japanese And British Political Culture

This title was first published in 1992: This book compares stability and change in the political culture of the relatively new Asian democracy Japan and the much older Western democracy Britain. While the democratic polity emerged incrementally and indigenously in Britain, it was essentially a modern and in many ways foreign implant in Japan. By analysing long-term trends and recent changes in political attitudes, support for government institutions, participation, voting behaviour, and policy-making in the two polities, the authors seek to bring us a unique perspective on these two dynamic island political cultures on opposite ends of the Eurasian land mass. This study will be useful as a supplemental text in upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in comparative political systems or political cultures, particularly those focusing on industrial democracies. It can also be used in courses on either British or Japanese politics.

Japan's aggressive economic development has led many Americans to fear that it will lead to an equally aggressive nationalism reminiscent of the pre-World War II period. Beyond the Rising Sun demonstrates that such fears are unfounded. Although cultural nationalism is strong, Japan today is a stable and peaceful democracy. Professionals, academics, government officials, business people, and the general public will find this challenge to many current views about Japanese politics, people, and U.S.-Japanese relations provocative. There has long been concern that Japan's aggressive economic development might be a harbinger of an equally aggressive nationalism, reminiscent of the dark era leading up to World War II. The media has fueled the image of a newly aggressive Japan by using martial metaphors such as Samurai capitalism that is invading American markets. Moreover, the Japanese are also portrayed as subservient members of a conformist society manipulated by political authority. However, a long-time resident in Japan and scholar on U.S.-Japanese relations argues that contemporary Japanese nationalism has no connection to its prewar embodiment and fears of an authoritarian and aggressive Japan have no basis in reality. Of the many changes in Japan since the end of the war, the most significant has been the development of a deeply ingrained democratic political culture. Although a strong force in Japan today, nationalism is manifested by a strong ethnic, cultural, and racial identification and not by citizen identification with the state. By examining the wide varieties of nationalism in contemporary Japan and by explaining the role that they play in society and politics, academics, professionals, government officials, business people, and the general public will find this analysis invaluable for understanding contemporary Japan. This short text is designed also for use in courses in Japanese politics, contemporary Japanese society and culture, and U.S.-Japanese relations.

[A] compelling case for the institutional analysis of political leadership ... you must buy and read this book.' - R.A.W. Rhodes, Public Administration. '[A] valuable contribution not only to the study of political leadership, but also to the study of comparative politics.' - Valerie Mort, Talking Politics. Concentrating on the period since 1945, Political Leadership in Liberal Democracies examines the resources of and constraints on political leaders in contemporary political systems. The book compares six countries to assess the effectiveness of political leadership and its relationship to the nature of institutional structures and political environments. The author argues that while the leadership environment has become more constraining and difficult in recent years, the potential for effective leadership in liberal democracies has not been extinguished.

DIVConsiders how electoral rules affect election results and argues that the impact of the same electoral systems is different from one culture to another /div

This volume represents an important contribution towards gaining a cross-national understanding of the current and emerging impacts of the Internet on political practice.

Providing an overview of the history of postwar teachers' unions in Japan, this book analyses the causes and effects of the 1989 schism of the largest union, the Japan Teachers' Union (Nikkyoso). Formed in 1947 during a period of great change for both the Japanese educational and political systems, this union has been closely linked with developments in both of these areas. The 1989 schism occurred at the start of another period of great change for politics and education. Author Robert W. Aspinall uses several theoretical models to discuss the schism and then offers modifications of the theoretical models to account for political changes that have occurred since they were created. He also places the fortunes of the union in the wider context of Japanese unionism and party politics, examines the role of teachers' unions at all levels of the education hierarchy, and describes the role of unions in the current wave of educational reform.

"A welcome addition to any reading list for those interested in contemporary Japanese society." - Roger Goodman, Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Society, University of Oxford "I know no better book for an accessible and up-to-date introduction to this complex subject than The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japan Studies." - Hiroko Takeda, Associate Professor, Organization for Global Japanese Studies, University of Tokyo "Pioneering and nuanced in analysis, yet highly accessible and engaging in style." - Yoshio Sugimoto, Emeritus Professor, La Trobe University The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies includes outstanding contributions from a diverse group of leading academics from across the globe. This volume is designed to serve as a major interdisciplinary reference work and a seminal text, both rigorous and accessible, to assist students and scholars in understanding one of the major nations of the world. James D. Babb is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Geography, Politics and Sociology at Newcastle University.

After holding power continuously from its inception in 1955 (with the exception of a ten-month hiatus in 1993-1994), Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) lost control of the national government decisively in September 2009. Despite its defeat, the LDP remains the most successful political party in a democracy in the post-World War II period. In The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP, Ellis S. Krauss and Robert J. Pekkanen shed light on the puzzle of the LDP's long dominance and abrupt defeat. Several questions about institutional change in party politics are at the core of their investigation: What incentives do different electoral systems provide? How do politicians adapt to new incentives? How much does structure determine behavior, and how much opportunity does structure give politicians to influence outcomes? How adaptable are established political organizations? The electoral system Japan established in 1955 resulted in a half-century of "one-party democracy." But as Krauss and Pekkanen detail, sweeping political reforms in 1994 changed voting rules and other key elements of the electoral system. Both the LDP and its adversaries had to adapt to a new system that gave citizens two votes: one for a party and one for a candidate. Under the leadership of the charismatic Koizumi Junichiro, the LDP managed to maintain its majority in the Japanese Diet, but his successors lost popular support as opposing parties learned how to operate in the new electoral environment. Drawing on the insights of historical institutionalism, Krauss and Pekkanen explain how Japanese politics functioned before and after the 1994 reform and why the persistence of party institutions (factions, PARC, koenkai) and the transformed role of party leadership contributed both to the LDP's success at remaining in power for fifteen years after the reforms and to its eventual downfall. In an epilogue, the authors assess the LDP's prospects in the near and medium term.