Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan

Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan PDF Author: Amy Catalinac
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107120497
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
This book argues that Japanese politicians pay more attention to security issues nowadays because of the electoral reform.

Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan

Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan PDF Author: Amy Catalinac
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107120497
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book argues that Japanese politicians pay more attention to security issues nowadays because of the electoral reform.

Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan

Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan PDF Author: Amy Catalinac
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781316476390
Category : Elections
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Japan is the third-largest economy in the world and a key ally of the United States. Yet the determinants of Japanese security policy are not well understood. The question of why Japan never sought the independent military capabilities that would be commensurate with its economic power has puzzled scholars of international relations for decades. Applying new tools for the quantitative analysis of text to a new collection of 7,497 Japanese-language election manifestos used in elections between 1986 and 2009, this book argues that the electoral strategies politicians in the ruling party were forced to adopt under Japan's old electoral system made it extraordinarily difficult for them to focus on security issues and to change security policy. It was only when their electoral strategies shifted after electoral reform in 1994 that these same politicians became able to pay attention and change security policy.

Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan

Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan PDF Author: Amy Catalinac
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1316473090
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 267

Get Book Here

Book Description
Japan is the third-largest economy in the world and a key ally of the United States. Yet the determinants of Japanese security policy are not well understood. The question of why Japan never sought the independent military capabilities that would be commensurate with its economic power has puzzled scholars of international relations for decades. Applying new tools for the quantitative analysis of text to a new collection of 7,497 Japanese-language election manifestos used in elections between 1986 and 2009, this book argues that the electoral strategies politicians in the ruling party were forced to adopt under Japan's old electoral system made it extraordinarily difficult for them to focus on security issues and to change security policy. It was only when their electoral strategies shifted after electoral reform in 1994 that these same politicians became able to pay attention and change security policy.

The Politics of Electoral Reform

The Politics of Electoral Reform PDF Author: Alan Renwick
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139486772
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 327

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Book Description
Elections lie at the heart of democracy, and this book seeks to understand how the rules governing those elections are chosen. Drawing on both broad comparisons and detailed case studies, it focuses upon the electoral rules that govern what sorts of preferences voters can express and how votes translate into seats in a legislature. Through detailed examination of electoral reform politics in four countries (France, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand), Alan Renwick shows how major electoral system changes in established democracies occur through two contrasting types of reform process. Renwick rejects the simple view that electoral systems always straightforwardly reflect the interests of the politicians in power. Politicians' motivations are complex; politicians are sometimes unable to pursue reforms they want; occasionally, they are forced to accept reforms they oppose. The Politics of Electoral Reform shows how voters and reform activists can have real power over electoral reform.

U.S. Education Reform and National Security

U.S. Education Reform and National Security PDF Author: Joel I. Klein
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations
ISBN: 087609521X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 120

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Book Description
The United States' failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country's ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role. This report notes that while the United States invests more in K-12 public education than many other developed countries, its students are ill prepared to compete with their global peers. According to the results of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment that measures the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science every three years, U.S. students rank fourteenth in reading, twenty-fifth in math, and seventeenth in science compared to students in other industrialized countries. The lack of preparedness poses threats on five national security fronts: economic growth and competitiveness, physical safety, intellectual property, U.S. global awareness, and U.S. unity and cohesion, says the report. Too many young people are not employable in an increasingly high-skilled and global economy, and too many are not qualified to join the military because they are physically unfit, have criminal records, or have an inadequate level of education. The report proposes three overarching policy recommendations: implement educational expectations and assessments in subjects vital to protecting national security; make structural changes to provide students with good choices; and, launch a "national security readiness audit" to hold schools and policymakers accountable for results and to raise public awareness.

Governing Insecurity in Japan

Governing Insecurity in Japan PDF Author: Wilhelm Vosse
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
Since the end of the Cold War, Japan's security environment has changed significantly. While the United States is still Japan's most important security partner, the nature of the partnership has changed as a result of new demands from the United States, but also due to new challenges for Japan such as the North Korean nuclear program and the rise of China. Moreover, the Japanese government and foreign policy establishment have been confronted with new, e~non-traditionale(tm) security threats such as international terrorism, the spread of infectious diseases, and global environmental threats. At the same time, on the domestic level, demographic change and the consequences of neo-liberal economic reforms in the first decade of the millennium as well as globalization challenge the sustainability of the current Japanese lifestyle and lead to a heightened sense of insecurity among many Japanese. This sense of insecurity finds its expression both in opinion polls and surveys and in public debate in politics, society and the media. Focusing on the domestic Japanese discourse on security, this bookexpands the standard discussions on security that mostly focus on military security and security in international relations, and bring in perspectives from domestic security, economic and livelihood security as well as sociological discussions of risk and risk management. By doing so, the authors provide new insights into Japanese and international discourses on security as well as the ways in which security is conceptualized in Japan. This book brings together a broad range of topics from traditional, military security to business perspectives on security, perceptions of insecurity in Japanese society and public debates on issues such as migration and food security.

East Asian Perspectives on Political Legitimacy

East Asian Perspectives on Political Legitimacy PDF Author: Joseph Chan
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108107826
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 281

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Book Description
What makes a government legitimate? Why do people voluntarily comply with laws, even when no one is watching? The idea of political legitimacy captures the fact that people obey when they think governments' actions accord with valid principles. For some, what matters most is the government's performance on security and the economy. For others, only a government that follows democratic principles can be legitimate. Political legitimacy is therefore a two-sided reality that scholars studying the acceptance of governments need to take into account. The diversity and backgrounds of East Asian nations provides a particular challenge when trying to determine the level of political legitimacy of individual governments. This book brings together both political philosophers and political scientists to examine the distinctive forms of political legitimacy that exist in contemporary East Asia. It is essential reading for all academic researchers of East Asian government, politics and comparative politics.

Japan's New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance

Japan's New Politics and the U.S.-Japan Alliance PDF Author: Sheila A. Smith
Publisher: Council on Foreign Relations
ISBN: 0876095937
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 59

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Book Description
Japan's new politics challenge some basic assumptions about U.S.-Japan alliance management. CFR Senior Fellow Sheila A. Smith explores this new era of alternating parties in power and reveals the growing importance of Japan's domestic politics in shaping alliance cooperation.

Japan’s Security Renaissance

Japan’s Security Renaissance PDF Author: Andrew L. Oros
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231542593
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
For decades after World War II, Japan chose to focus on soft power and economic diplomacy alongside a close alliance with the United States, eschewing a potential leadership role in regional and global security. Since the end of the Cold War, and especially since the rise of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan's military capabilities have resurged. In this analysis of Japan's changing military policy, Andrew L. Oros shows how a gradual awakening to new security challenges has culminated in the multifaceted "security renaissance" of the past decade. Despite openness to new approaches, however, three historical legacies—contested memories of the Pacific War and Imperial Japan, postwar anti-militarist convictions, and an unequal relationship with the United States—play an outsized role. In Japan's Security Renaissance Oros argues that Japan's future security policies will continue to be shaped by these legacies, which Japanese leaders have struggled to address. He argues that claims of rising nationalism in Japan are overstated, but there has been a discernable shift favoring the conservative Abe and his Liberal Democratic Party. Bringing together Japanese domestic politics with the broader geopolitical landscape of East Asia and the world, Japan's Security Renaissance provides guidance on this century's emerging international dynamics.

Japan Transformed

Japan Transformed PDF Author: Frances Rosenbluth
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400835097
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
With little domestic fanfare and even less attention internationally, Japan has been reinventing itself since the 1990s, dramatically changing its political economy, from one managed by regulations to one with a neoliberal orientation. Rebuilding from the economic misfortunes of its recent past, the country retains a formidable economy and its political system is healthier than at any time in its history. Japan Transformed explores the historical, political, and economic forces that led to the country's recent evolution, and looks at the consequences for Japan's citizens and global neighbors. The book examines Japanese history, illustrating the country's multiple transformations over the centuries, and then focuses on the critical and inexorable advance of economic globalization. It describes how global economic integration and urbanization destabilized Japan's postwar policy coalition, undercut the ruling Liberal Democratic Party's ability to buy votes, and paved the way for new electoral rules that emphasized competing visions of the public good. In contrast to the previous system that pitted candidates from the same party against each other, the new rules tether policymaking to the vast swath of voters in the middle of the political spectrum. Regardless of ruling party, Japan's politics, economics, and foreign policy are on a neoliberal path. Japan Transformed combines broad context and comparative analysis to provide an accurate understanding of Japan's past, present, and future.