Jap Politics

A detailed Summary of Jap Politics

According to Webster democracy is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodic elections. The question at hand is does this apply to Japan, or more specifically postwar Japan? If this isn't what Japan has then what type of government do they have? Garon and Mochizuki argue that it has been a managed form of democracy. What exactly is a managed democracy? These are the questions that I hope to answer.

Garon and Mochizuki were describing the business like structure of the Japanese political system when they called it a managed democracy. This means that the democracy in Japan is a somewhat controlled system. The people don't really have any power; the members of the Diet control the government on their own terms. What they are basically saying is Japan doesn't really have a democracy, but if that's what it must be called then it should have the "managed" tagged to it for warning.

Are Garon and Mochizuki correct in their statement? Yes, I believe that they have accurately described how Japan's government operates. Japan uses a system of "Democracy", that doesn't really fit the definition.

The Diet in Japan is similar to the parliaments in England, France, and other European countries. The Parliament is the supreme branch of the government in the Japanese government. Even through the system of checks and balances the parliament is still superior, much like the judicial branch in American government. The parliament is a bicameral system that resembles that of Great Britain. These factors all contribute to Japan's democracy. Since the parliament is the strongest branch of the government that means technically that the people have the most influence on the government. This is truer now that the bureaucracy has lost some of its power. It also helps to have a parliament that is modeled after one that has been in place for a long time and has worked. It also helps that the Japanese government has been more or less successful sine world war two. This creates a kind of false security within the electorate. They have experienced some good times, so they are lead to believe that the government can get them out of a bad situation.

The economy in Japan has long been the source of pride. Although they are currently in a sort of slump their economy is still strong. They are still the leading manufacturer of electronics and one of the leaders in the automotive industry. This is what helps contribute to their economic democracy. For the past thirty years Japan has been one of the top countries in economic equality. This is due in part to a type a semi-capitalism. The Japanese middle class is becoming a very important part of the political world. Politicians are having an ever-increasing interest in the middle class. This plays a huge part in the development of the Japanese democracy. Going back to the elitist attitude in Japan, it is unusual for a group to receive a good amount of attention that is not rich. With the number of middle class people soaring however, the politicians are forced to consider them. Eventually I could foresee the middle class starting to take con

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1354
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Foreign