Description
Book SynopsisChanging Politics in Japan is a fresh and insightful account of the profound changes that have shaken up the Japanese political system and transformed it almost beyond recognition in the last couple of decades. Ikuo Kabashimaa former professor who is now Governor of Kumamoto Prefectureand Gill Steel outline the basic features of politics in postwar Japan in an accessible and engaging manner. They focus on the dynamic relationship between voters and elected or nonelected officials and describe the shifts that have occurred in how voters respond to or control political elites and how officials both respond to, and attempt to influence, voters. The authors return time and again to the theme of changes in representation and accountability.
Kabashima and Steel set out to demolish the still prevalent myth that Japanese politics are a stagnant set of entrenched systems and interests that are fundamentally undemocratic. In its place, they reveal a lively and dynamic democracy, in whic
Trade Review
The study is concise and well documented with many statistics and other sources. The authors 'set out to demolish further the once prevalent myth that Japanese politics are a stagnant set of entrenched systems and interests that are fundamentally undemocratic' (p. 1)... this book provides very balanced and concise overviews of Japanese politics.
-- Koji Murata * Journal of Japanese Studies *
This book is rich in detail and provides a valuable summary of all of the tumultuous events that have occurred in Japanese politics since the early 1990s. A major strength of the book lies precisely in its broad sweep.... The authors provide a refreshingly balanced account that points not only to institutional but also to longer term socio-economic factors as drivers of change in Japanese politics.
-- Reiko Kage * Social Science Japan Journal *
Table of Contents1. Introduction
2. Citizens and Elites in the Construction of the LDP System
3. Party and Voter Dealignment: The LDP System Disintegrates
4. Changing Media, Changing Politics
5. Citizens and the Prime Minister
6. Representation and Policymaking under LDP Administrations iin the Post-1955 System
7. Voters and the Democratic Party of Japan
8. Afterword: Where to Now?Appendix A. The National Diet
Appendix B. ASSK Survey Questions and Coding
Appendix C. The Japan Election Study II
References
Index
