Japan experienced rapid industrial growth after World War II, but its economic miracle brought dramatic environmental deterioration. In the early 1970s, as local protest movements grew more vocal, the Japanese government moved relatively swiftly to regulate industrial pollution and succeeded in reducing its air and water pollution, but not many other environmental problems. This book analyzes the social, cultural, and political-economic causes of Japan's dramatic environmental damage and eventual partial restoration from 1955 to 1995. A case of regional heavy industrial growth and...

In the study of civil society and social movements, most cases are based in Western Europe and North America. These two areas of the world have similar histories and political ideals and structures in common which in turn, affect the structure of its civil society. In studying civil society in Asia, a different understanding of history, politics, and society is needed. The region's long traditions of centralized, authoritarian states buttressed by Confucian and in some cases Communist ideologies may render this concept irrelevant.

The chapters in this international volume cover...

In the study of civil society and social movements, most cases are based in Western Europe and North America. These two areas of the world have similar histories and political ideals and structures in common which in turn, affect the structure of its civil society. In studying civil society in Asia, a different understanding of history, politics, and society is needed. The region's long traditions of centralized, authoritarian states buttressed by Confucian and in some cases Communist ideologies may render this concept irrelevant.

The chapters in this international volume cover...