Civic Engagement in Postwar Japan
：The Revival of a Defeated Society
Publication subTitle ：The Revival of a Defeated Society
Author： Rieko Kage;
Publisher： Cambridge University Press
Publication year： 2010
E-ISBN: 9781316920275
P-ISBN(Paperback): 9780521192576
P-ISBN(Hardback): 9780521192576
Subject： D Political and Legal
Keyword： 政治、法律
Language： ENG
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Description
This book illuminates one of the keys to making postwar democracies work.
Despite reduced incomes, diminished opportunities for education, and the psychological trauma of defeat, Japan experienced a rapid rise in civic engagement in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Using the case of Japan as a starting point, this book illuminates one of the keys to making postwar democracies work.
Despite reduced incomes, diminished opportunities for education, and the psychological trauma of defeat, Japan experienced a rapid rise in civic engagement in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Using the case of Japan as a starting point, this book illuminates one of the keys to making postwar democracies work.
Despite reduced incomes, diminished opportunities for education, and the psychological trauma of defeat, Japan experienced a rapid rise in civic engagement in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Why? Civic Engagement in Postwar Japan answers this question with a new general theory of the growth in civic engagement in postwar democracies. It argues that wartime mobilization unintentionally instills civic skills in the citizenry, thus laying the groundwork for a postwar civic engagement boom. Meanwhile, legacies of prewar associational activities shape the costs of association-building and information-gathering, thus affecting the actual extent of the postwar boom. Combining original data collection, rigorous statistical methods, and in-depth historical case analyses, this book illuminates one of the keys to making postwar democracies work.
1. Introduction; 2. Civic engagement: the dependent variable; 3. War and civic engagement: a theoretical framework; 4. Quantitative analysis: the rise of civic engagement across forty-six Japanese prefectures; 5. The long-term effects of wartime mobilization: cross-national analysis; 6. Repression and revival of the YMCA Japan; 7. Wartime promotion and postwar repression of a traditional martial art; 8. Civil society and reconstruction in postwar Japan; 9. Conclusions.
“This is a superb book written with nuance, creativity and as much precision as the subject of civic engagement allows. It has much to teach us about post-war societies and about the crafting of a compelling argument.”
—Nancy Bermeo, University of Oxford
“Civic Engagement in Postwar Japan offers a strikingly original and important analysis of the relationship between wartime mobilization and postwar civic engagement. Kage draws on a rich case study of Japan and a statistical analysis of World War II to demonstrate the powerful and politicizing effect of homefront mobilization on the growth of postwar associational life. A fascinating account, this book will appeal to scholars interested in debates about war’s effect on democracy and the sources of civil engagement.”
—Elizabeth Kier, University of Washington
“This is an important book that anyone interested in civil society or civic engagement in Japan needs to read. Kage’s excellent study will also have broad appeal to comparative scholars of these topics and of Japanese politics in general. Kage explores an empirically and theoretically important question with surpassing diligence, and this pays off with compelling conclusions that challenge the conventional wisdom about Japanese economic development and civil society. With its analysis of the legacies of wartime mobilization, the book will provoke new research about the nature of voluntarism and civic engagement.
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