Japanese History - General & Miscellaneous, Japanese History - 1945 - Present, Japan - Politics & Government, Democracies & Republics - General & Miscellaneous

Democracy in Japan

Name: Democracy in Japan
Author: Frank McNeil
ISBN: 9780517590140

by Frank McNeil

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Overview

In Democracy in Japan, Frank McNeil, a veteran American diplomat with extensive experience in Japan, takes a fresh look at the country's democratic tradition - its troubled past and uncertain present. McNeil also examines alternative scenarios for Japan's future and outlines likely outcomes. Japan is one of the world's dominant economic powers, making the crisis in its democratic institutions a global concern. How deep are the roots of democracy? Is Japan changing, and will much needed democratic reforms prosper? Can this self-absorbed country shed more of its insularity? Is a return to militarism a possibility? What can Japan do to ensure progress and stability in the post-Cold War world? McNeil's critical but sympathetic assessment is based on ten years of living in Japan and on recent, extensive research. He conducted wide-ranging conversations with local and national political figures, among them former prime ministers; people in business, the media, and academia; grassroots activists; and ordinary Japanese. Refusing to hold Japan to a higher standard than Euro-American democracies apply to themselves, he traces the roots of Japan's democratic institutions in the century before the postwar American occupation and makes a case that tectonic changes in society are forcing Japan toward greater openness and institutional renewal, the inertial forces of bureaucracy and custom notwithstanding.

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Editorials

Library Journal

McNeil, a former U.S. diplomat twice assigned to Japan, here offers his analysis of the political changes currently underway in that country. His book's scope is extremely ambitious, extending all the way back to prehistoric times and attempting to relate the country's early history and culture to present-day events. Unfortunately, the tone of much of the early, historical overview (which constitutes approximately half of the book) is chatty and rather superficial, and McNeil's original insights don't really begin to appear until the later chapters. For the earlier period, the general reader is better off sticking to the standard works on the subject by George Sansom, Edwin Reischauer, or, more recently, Conrad Schirokauer. (The latter's A Brief History of Japanese Civilization, Harcourt, 1993, makes a good introduction.) The book's second half has more to offer but also manifests a tendency to ramble. While readers with a previous knowledge of Japan will find McNeil's discussion in the later chapters interesting, the work, overall, cannot be recommended for general readers.-Scott Wright, Univ. of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn.

Booknews

Asserting that Japan's politics, as well as its economy, are of global concern, McNeil--a former US diplomat--frames Japan's democracy in historical and cultural context, explores the causes of political upheaval, and the examines prospects for reform. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)