Author Description

Changing Politics in Japan is an account of profound changes that have shaken up the Japanese political system and transformed it. Ikuo Kabashima and Gill Steel outline basic features of politics in postwar Japan. They focus on dynamic relationship between voters and elected or nonelected officials and describe shifts that have occurred in how voters respond to or control political elites and how officials both respond to, and attempt to influence, voters. The authors return to the theme of changes in representation and accountability. They set out to demolish the still prevalent myth that Japanese politics are a stagnant set of entrenched systems and interests that are fundamentally undemocratic. In its place, they reveal a lively and dynamic democracy, in which politicians and parties are increasingly listening to and responding to citizens' needs and interests and the media and other actors play a substantial role in keeping democratic accountability alive and healthy. Kabashima and Steel describe how all the political parties in Japan have adapted the ways in which they attempt to organize and channel votes and argue that contrary to many journalistic stereotypes the government is increasingly acting in the "the interests of citizens."