Governing Japan: Divided Politics in a Major Economy, 3rd Edition

by J. A. A. Stockwin (University of Oxford)

• ISBN13: 9780631212133
• ISBN10: 0631212132
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-02-01
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

The third edition of Governing Japan provides a comprehensive introduction to Japanese political institutions, processes and culture, taking account of the remarkable changes of recent years. The author makes the often confusing Japanese political system comprehensible to the outside observer. He examines Japan's politics in light of its cultural and historical situation whilst relating Japan's experience to the rest of the world. This new edition of the established textbook in this field reflects the patterns of complexity and variety in the Japanese political experience in the 1980s and 1990s. The book identifies six crises central to the Japanese political agenda at the end of the millennium:- A crisis of political power · a crisis of bureaucracy.- A crisis of political apathy and lack of confidence in government.- A crisis of economic management.- A crisis of public satisfaction over life chances.- A crisis of the constitution and Japan's world role.The author analyses the degrees of recent reform in the Japanese political system and argues that moves towards political change in the 1990s reflect a deep malaise in politics, economy and society Governing Japan provides students with an invaluable guide to this transitional period in Japanese politics and the problems and potential solutions that lie ahead.

Author Biography

J. A. A. Stockwin is Nissan Professor of Modern Japanese Studies at the University of Oxford and Director of the Nissan Institute of Japanese Studies. Between 1964 and 1981 he taught at the Australian National University in Canberra, and he has spent several periods of research at Japanese universities. He is author of The Japanese Socialist Party and Neutralism (1968), editor of Japan and Australia in the Seventies (1972), joint author of Dynamic and Immobilist Politics in Japan (1988) and translator of The Establishment of the Japanese Constitutional System, by Junji Banno (1992).

Table of Contents

General Editor's Introduction
List of Tables
Maps
Acknowledgements
Conventions
Introduction: Why Study the Politics of Japan?	p. 1
The Legacy of History	p. 10
The Influence of Social Norms and Behaviour	p. 23
Post-war Reforms and the 'Time of Troubles', 1945-1960	p. 36
Politics of Economic Growth and Political Survival, 1960-1989	p. 54
Demise of the Old System, Groping Towards the New: The Politics of the 1990s	p. 70
The Structure and Process of Central Government: Is Japan a Bureaucratic Polity?	p. 93
Parliament and Parliamentary Elections	p. 113
The Politics of Party: The Liberal Democrats and their Rivals	p. 132
Some Problems of the Constitution	p. 162
Domestic Political Issues	p. 180
Issues of Foreign Policy and Defence	p. 202
Conclusions: The Analytical Challenge of Japanese Politics	p. 218
Notes	p. 223
Further Reading	p. 255
Index	p. 261
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