Over the past two decades, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) have exploded in number and emerged as a new force in international and transnational politics. Why, however, do some countries nonetheless have more active NGO sectors than others?

Using the case of Japan, this book uncovers patterns of convergence and divergence in levels of activism across industrialized countries and offers a two-level political explanation for the rise of NGOs as a global phenomenon. The author argues that activism has been cultivated from "above" and shows the ways in which political...