Democratic Reform in Japan: Assessing the Impact

		ISBN: 978-1-58826-581-4 $58.50
	2008/253 pages

Widespread dissatisfaction in Japan in the 1990s set the stage for numerous political reforms aimed at enhancing representation and accountability. But have these reforms in fact improved the quality of Japanese democracy? Through the lens of this question, the authors explore contemporary Japanese politics at the national, local, and grassroots levels. Their systematic analysis of when and how citizens attempt to create and use new opportunities to articulate political interests offers insights not only on the current state of Japanese democracy, but also on the dynamics of political behavior over all.

Also of interest: Money Politics in Japan: New Rules, Old Practices by Matthew Carlson.

• Foreword—I. Kabashima.
• Introduction—the Editors.
• THE NATIONAL LEVEL.
• Reforming the LDP—E.S. Krauss and R. Pekkanen.
• Campaign Behavior: The Limits to Change—D. Dabney.
• Diet Members and Seat Inheritance: Keeping It in the Family—N. Taniguchi.
• Policy Preferences and Party Platforms: What Voters Want vs. What Voters Get—G. Steel.
• Reforming the Bureaucracy—E. Kawabata.
• THE LOCAL LEVEL.
• Keeping Women in Their Place: Penetrating Male-dominated Urban and Rural Assemblies—S.L. Martin.
• Prefectural Politics: Party and Electoral Stagnation—R.J. Weiner.
• The Potential and Limits of Antiparty Electoral Movements in Local Politics—R.M. LeBlanc.
• Civil Society and Democracy: Reforming Nonprofit Organization Law—Y. Kawato and R. Pekkanen.
• CONCLUSION.
• Contemporary Japanese Democracy—the Editors.