Failed Democratization in Prewar Japan

"Takenaka's strength lies in locating specific points where alternative actions might have facilitated a smooth Japanese transition to democracy . . . Takenaka thus offers an important corrective to the determinist vision of a prewar Japanese political culture adverse to democracy." -- Frederick R. Dickinson * Pacific Affairs *
"Harukata Takenaka has written a sobering and impressive work on how democracy can break down before it is given solid birth—sobering because, of 31 Asian sovereign countries, only Japan and South Korea practice a fully fledged democracy while the rest are flawed democracies and hybrid and authoritarian regimes." -- Takashi Inoguchi, Professor Emeritus * University of Tokyo and President, University of Niigata Prefecture *
"This book is a major contribution to the comparative literature on hybrid regimes and to the historical literature on pre-war Japanese politics. Takenaka shows how political leaders' bumbling policy performance and narrow pursuit of short term advantage exacerbated the dilemma of institutionally weak party government and a strong and increasingly politicized and ambitious military. This is a fascinating and important work of political history." -- Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies * Stanford University *