Crisis Narratives, Institutional Change, and the Transformation of the Japanese State

Crisis Narratives, Institutional Change, and the Transformation of the Japanese State PDF Author: Sebastian Maslow
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438486103
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

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Book Description
Mired in national crises since the early 1990s, Japan has had to respond to a rapid population decline; the Asian and global financial crises; the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown; the COVID-19 pandemic; China’s economic rise; threats from North Korea; and massive public debt. In Crisis Narratives, Institutional Change, and the Transformation of the Japanese State, established specialists in a variety of areas use a coherent set of methodologies, aligning their sociological, public policy, and political science and international relations perspectives, to account for discrepancies between official rhetoric and policy practice and actual perceptions of decline and crisis in contemporary Japan. Each chapter focuses on a distinct policy field to gauge the effectiveness and the implications of political responses through an analysis of how crises are narrated and used to justify policy interventions. Transcending boundaries between issue areas and domestic and international politics, these essays paint a dynamic picture of the contested but changing nature of social, economic, and, ultimately political institutions as they constitute the transforming Japanese state.

Crisis Narratives, Institutional Change, and the Transformation of the Japanese State

Crisis Narratives, Institutional Change, and the Transformation of the Japanese State PDF Author: Sebastian Maslow
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438486103
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 299

Get Book Here

Book Description
Mired in national crises since the early 1990s, Japan has had to respond to a rapid population decline; the Asian and global financial crises; the 2011 triple disaster of earthquake, tsunami, and the Fukushima nuclear meltdown; the COVID-19 pandemic; China’s economic rise; threats from North Korea; and massive public debt. In Crisis Narratives, Institutional Change, and the Transformation of the Japanese State, established specialists in a variety of areas use a coherent set of methodologies, aligning their sociological, public policy, and political science and international relations perspectives, to account for discrepancies between official rhetoric and policy practice and actual perceptions of decline and crisis in contemporary Japan. Each chapter focuses on a distinct policy field to gauge the effectiveness and the implications of political responses through an analysis of how crises are narrated and used to justify policy interventions. Transcending boundaries between issue areas and domestic and international politics, these essays paint a dynamic picture of the contested but changing nature of social, economic, and, ultimately political institutions as they constitute the transforming Japanese state.

Japan's Security Policy

Japan's Security Policy PDF Author: Keiji Nakatsuji
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000822079
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book Description
This book analyses Japan’s security policy after the Cold War and engages with the question of whether, since the Cold War ended, Japan has again become a global security player. The contributions to the book explore Japan’s security policy by providing a detailed overview of the evolution of Japan’s security policy after the Cold War, including the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the Senkaku/Daioyu Islands dispute. It also reveals the preeminent security concerns of contemporary Japan by delving into regional security issues such as the Layered Security of Okinawa, the increasing nuclear threat from North Korea, and the Taiwan Strait Crisis of 1995-6. The book culminates by discussing security in terms of the essential functions of energy, food, and human security, including an assessment of Japan’s energy policy since World War II and an assessment of the impact food security on Japan’s agriculture and trade. This book will be of interest to student and scholars of East Asian Politics, Security Studies and the International Relations of the Asia Pacific. It is also a valuable resource for diplomats and policymakers on Japan and East Asia.

Survival: August - September 2022

Survival: August - September 2022 PDF Author: 0 The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS),
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000941167
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 185

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Book Description
Survival, the IISS’s bimonthly journal, challenges conventional wisdom and brings fresh, often controversial, perspectives on strategic issues of the moment. In this issue: Alexander K. Bollfrass and Stephen Herzog argue that despite facing major challenges, the global nuclear order remains resilient Maria Shagina assesses Russia’s status as an energy superpower, concluding that it has a bleak future in the long term Erik Jones argues that the war in Ukraine has disrupted the European Central Bank’s ability to operate by consensus Jeffrey E. Kline, James A. Russell and James J. Wirtz contend that the US Navy may struggle to adapt to the pace of technological, social and environmental change Ray Takeyh revisits the Iranian Revolution, finding that Jimmy Carter did not so much ‘lose’ Iran as misunderstand it And five more thought-provoking pieces, as well as our regular Book Reviews and Noteworthy column. Editor: Dr Dana Allin Managing Editor: Jonathan Stevenson Associate Editor: Carolyn West Editorial Assistant: Charlie Zawadzki

China-US Competition

China-US Competition PDF Author: Simona A. Grano
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3031153898
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This open access edited book brings together a closer examination of European and Asian responses to the escalating rivalry between the US and China. As the new Cold War has surfaced as a perceivable reality in the post-COVID era, the topic itself is of great importance to policymakers, academic researchers, and the interested public. Furthermore, this manuscript makes a valuable contribution to an under-studied and increasingly important phenomenon in international relations: the impact of the growing strategic competition between the United States and China on third parties, such as small and middle powers in the two arguably most affected regions of the world: Europe and East Asia. The European side has been under-studied and explicitly comparative work on Europe and East Asia is extremely rare. Given that the manuscript focuses heavily on recent developments—and because many of these developments have been quite dramatic—there are very few publications that cover the same topics.

Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan

Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan PDF Author: Huiyan Fu
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192666487
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
While a large number of studies exist on political-economic institutional explanations for the prevalence of precarious work, few have delved into the elusive yet critical domain of culture. This is highly pertinent to China and Japan whose shared tradition of Confucianism (broadly defined) continues to inform many aspects of society. In particular, core values such as hierarchy, harmony, and the subordination of individual interests to collective requirements impinge importantly on the iniquitous patterns of precarious work and its surrounding institutions ranging from state policy and legislation to industrial relations and social welfare. The pervasiveness and entrenched nature of culture has been especially evidenced by Japan's distinctly gendered and China's rural-urban citizenship-based labour market stratifications. By bridging culture and institutions, Temporary and Gig Economy Workers in China and Japan brings a more integrated and nuanced understanding of unequal work, casting fresh light on social change in China, Japan, and beyond. Emphasis is placed not only on macro-level structural scrutiny but also on micro-agency empiricism, i.e. real people's experiences in everyday life. This holistic and comparative approach, as demonstrated by the book, will go a long way towards tackling the negative consequences of precarious work in a wider post-pandemic world.

Help (Not) Wanted

Help (Not) Wanted PDF Author: Michael Strausz
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438475535
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 216

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Book Description
In Help (Not) Wanted, Michael Strausz offers an original and provocative answer to a question that has long perplexed observers of Japan: Why has Japan's immigration policy remained so restrictive, especially in light of economic, demographic, and international political forces that are pushing Japan to admit more immigrants? Drawing upon insights developed during nearly two years of intensive field research in Japan, Strausz ultimately argues that Japan's immigration policy has remained restrictive for two reasons. First, Japan's labor-intensive businesses have failed to defeat anti-immigration forces within the Japanese state, particularly those in the Ministry of Justice and the Japanese Diet. Second, no influential strain of elite thought in postwar Japan exists to support the idea that significant numbers of foreign nationals have a legitimate claim to residency and citizenship. This book is particularly timely at a moment shaped by Brexit, the election of Trump, and the rise of anti-immigrant political parties and nativist rhetoric across the globe.

High Tech, Low Tech, No Tech

High Tech, Low Tech, No Tech PDF Author: William W. Falk
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438402279
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
Fifty years ago the quality of life in the 13 states of the Old South was judged to be among the lowest in the country. A lack of industrial development and the pervasiveness of a sharecropping system of agricultural production combined to keep the South mired in the backwaters of the American economy. Over the past five decades, however, the South has moved to the forefront as an area of economic growth. The authors show that significant improvements have taken place almost entirely in and around the major cities. Rural areas—especially those with a high percentage of blacks —remain saddled with an economic base dominated almost entirely by slow growing, stagnating, and declining industries. The uneven development of the region is the result of a set of industrial policies in which communities attempt to lure prospective employers with lucrative business incentive packages. Guarantees of cheap, unorganized labor, tax holidays and giveaways of land and buildings are some of the 'chips' community leaders use in this high stakes game. Rural communities are often caught in bidding wars among themselves in which they are forced to offer even more lucrative incentives and in the process reallocate resources away from needed human services. Consequently, Falk and Lyson target the need for a national industrial policy that will bring some order to the industrial recruitment process.

Disaster Emergency Management

Disaster Emergency Management PDF Author: Liza Ireni Saban
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438452446
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
Survival in times of disaster is a question of utmost importance to both the victims of those events and to the professionals and people in authority who are there to serve them. In Disaster Emergency Management, Liza Ireni Saban examines what leads some nations, communities, and individuals to rise to the occasion during these times of trauma, while others do not. Utilizing case studies of China, Indonesia, Japan, and the United States, she focuses in particular on the dilemma faced by local emergency officials who, rather than elected officials, find themselves "on the front lines," suddenly confronted with complex public problems. Recent studies have pointed to a breakdown of government and bureaucratic decision making in the face of intense crisis situations. Saban demonstrates the inadequacies of grappling with what are in truth contested ethical issues within a framework whose approach is technical-rational. She draws on communitarian ethics to redefine the role of the bureaucrat so that community resilience, through attention to local values and needs, is fostered prior to the actual crisis.

Documents in Crisis

Documents in Crisis PDF Author: Beth E. Jörgensen
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438439393
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 235

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Book Description
2012 Best Book in the Humanities, presented by the Mexico Section of the Latin American Studies Assn. Examines the theory and practice of nonfiction narrative literature in twentieth-century Mexico. In the turbulent twentieth century, large numbers of Mexicans of all social classes faced crisis and catastrophe on a seemingly continuous basis. Revolution, earthquakes, industrial disasters, political and labor unrest, as well as indigenous insurgency placed extraordinary pressures on collective and individual identity. In contemporary literary studies, nonfiction literatures have received scant attention compared to the more supposedly “creative” practices of fictional narrative, poetry, and drama. In Documents in Crisis, Beth E. Jörgensen examines a selection of both canonical and lesser-known examples of narrative nonfiction that were written in response to these crises, including the autobiography, memoir, historical essay, testimony, chronicle, and ethnographic life narrative. She addresses the relative neglect of Mexican nonfiction in criticism and theory and demonstrates its continuing relevance for writers and readers who, in spite of the contemporary blurring of boundaries between fiction and nonfiction, remain fascinated by literatures of fact. “ [a] solidly informative book.” — Revista de Estudios Hispánicos “This book examines traditional ‘fact-based genres’—autobiography, chronicle essay, ethnography, memoir, testimony, and travel writing—as undertaken by some of Mexico’s best-known writers. Within a broad conceptual framework, Jörgensen engages with the work [and] does an excellent job Highly recommended.” — CHOICE “I can always count on Beth Jörgensen’s work for clearly written, smart analysis of the Mexican cultural scene. She is, of course, the author of an important study on Elena Poniatowska, and is known for her deep knowledge of Mexican nonfiction writers/cronistas. She brings this strength to her new book as well, where her deep familiarity and long interest in Mexican cultural forms lends her book an assured and confident grounding.” — Debra A. Castillo, author of Redreaming America: Toward a Bilingual American Culture

Restructuring Development Theories and Policies

Restructuring Development Theories and Policies PDF Author: M. Shamsul Haque
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791442586
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 392

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Book Description
Explains and critiques current theories of political development.