Building Democracy in Japan

This book offers a grassroots perspective and holistic understanding of Japan's democratization process and what it means for the nation today.

This book explains how Japan became a democracy. Its main purpose is to offer more of a grassroots perspective and holistic understanding of Japan's democratization process and examine what it means for the nation today. The book is primarily focused on understanding contemporary Japan.How is democracy made real? How does an undemocratic country create new institutions and transform its polity such that democratic values and practices become integral parts of its political culture? These are some of the most pressing questions of our times, and they are the central inquiry of Building Democracy in Japan. Using the Japanese experience as starting point, this book develops a new approach to the study of democratization that examines state-society interactions as a country adjusts its existing political culture to accommodate new democratic values, institutions and practices. With reference to the country's history, the book focuses on how democracy is experienced in contemporary Japan, highlighting the important role of generational change in facilitating both gradual adjustments as well as dramatic transformation in Japanese politics.