Japan's Politics and Economy: Perspectives on change

ISBN-13: 9780415547529 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 240 str.

Marie Soderberg;Patricia A. Nelson

Opis

For some time Japan has been under fire for adjusting too slowly to new realities. While this criticism may be valid on some levels, Japan has been transforming in tandem with both regional and global forces. However, these changes have been largely overshadowed by the immense changes in Asia; including the rise of China, the 1997 Southeast Asian financial crisis and North Korea's development of nuclear weapons. Has Japan, the world's second largest economy, only been muddling through? In this volume the contributors show that although the challenges faced are great, Japan is changing in areas ranging from political leadership, education policy, official development assistance, peace building and security, to defence production, business associations and innovation policy. The book analyses processes of change, focusing on the dynamics of change - rather than structural change or institutional change per se - from four levels: the individual, domestic, regional and global. Forces from outside Japan, such as a changing world order and changes in power relationships in Asia, have driven change along with pressures emerging within Japan, such as the increasing power of public opinion and competitiveness within markets. This book will be of interest to scholars and students of Japanese and Asian Studies, Politics, International Relations, Globalization, Business and Economics.

Japan can sometimes be seen as moving very slowly in the face of globalisation and the rapid change in the old world order. East Asia is changing with the economic and political rise of China and the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula. So too is the more competitive, highly global world market. Japanese politicians increasingly have to take domestic opinions into consideration, and in the economic field Japanese companies have to live with an utterly competitive domestic market.

This book focuses on the processes of change taking place in Japan’s politics and economy. The contributors look at a number of different areas including political leadership, the defence industry, security and diplomatic policy, peace building, official development assistance, the economic and business areas and education policy. They consider the process of change rather than structural change per se, and analyse how these processes of change are generated and move forward, as well as the implications of these changes on an implementation level is analyzed.

The contributions to this book all offer fresh perspectives on aspects of change in Japan’s political and economic environment. Taking a European perspective, and in some cases comparing directly the Japanese and European experiences, the authors seek to clarify what are the general trends and what are specific for Japan.

This book will be of interest to academics and postgraduate students within Japanese Studies, Politics, International Relations, Globalisation and Economics.

Spis treści

1. Introduction: Dynamics of Change Patricia A. Nelson and Marie Söderberg  2. Contending with Regional Uncertainty: Japan’s Response to Contemporary East Asian Security Challenges John Swenson-Wright  3. Balancing Between a Hegemon and a Would-be Hegemon Paul Midford  4. Shifting Incentives for Political Leadership Verena Blechinger-Talcott  5. The Construction of Citizenship through Volunteering: The Case of Lifelong Learning Akihiro Ogawa  6. Foreign Aid as a Tool for Peace Building: Is the Goal Security or Poverty Reduction? Marie Söderberg  7. Peace Diplomacy by ODA: Rhetoric and Reality Norbert Palanovics  8. The Changing Political Economy of Defence Production: The Rise of a Military-Industrial Complex? Christopher W. Hughes  9. Stability and the Status Quo: Changing Power Structures in the Optics Industry Patricia A. Nelson  10. Sources and Processes of Change: The Case of the Game Software Industry Cornelia Storz  11. Conclusion: Perspectives on Change Marie Söderberg and Patricia A. Nelson