Description: In Visions of Democracy and Peace in Occupied Japan, Sigal Ben-Rafael Galanti examines Japan under its American occupation following World War II and focuses upon the conflicting visions of its political parties in their struggles for a democratic and peaceful "Japanese Japan."
Brief description: Alon Levkowitz is lecturer and coordinator of the Asian Studies Program at Bar-Ilan University.
Review Quotes:
This book brings an original perspective to the study of the US occupation of Japan and the development of Japanese democracy. It identifies pro-democracy legacies from the pre-democratic era underlying Japan's leading politicians' and political parties' embrace of democracy, albeit a 'Japanized' version. It analyzes their 'visions' of the future of Japan's democracy--primarily by painstaking reading of the Diet debates over major issues, such as the wording of the New Constitution. Combining political history and comparative politics, the book explains why Japanese democracy has been one of the few non-Western survivors among Huntington's 'Second Wave of Democratization.'