In this agenda-setting essay, journalist and historian Eric Alterman explains what is really happening with the Obama presidency. While Obama's many compromises have disappointed liberals, Alterman argues that these concessions are largely due to a political system that is rigged against progressive change. These structural impediments to democracy have made the keeping of Obama's campaign promises all but impossible. Brilliantly blending incisive political analysis with a clear agenda for change, Kabuki Democracy cuts through the clich's of conservative propaganda and lazy mainstream media analysis to demonstrate that genuine "change" will come to America only when people care enough to challenge the system.

In this agenda-setting essay, journalist and historian Eric Alterman explains what is really happening with the Obama presidency. While Obama's many compromises have disappointed liberals, Alterman argues that these concessions are largely due to ...

Japanese politics now, with seven prime ministers appointed within this decade and the second major political party turnover taken place within the last two decades, is undergoing a great transition. This book explores the gradual shift from what the editors call karaoke democracy to kabuki democracy.

With the ‘Asian Century’ now upon us, bringing with it many profound economic and political changes to the world order, it is very timely to assess the state of democracy in the Asian region. Focusing on Eastern Asia, this book provides such a review, highlighting lines of connections between the states and peoples of this complex and dynamic region. Featuring chapters on China, Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, and Myanmar, this book provides a detailed analysis of the state of democracy in each country or territory, and shows how each is different and distinctive, whilst simultaneously drawing out important similarities. Further, it provides up to date analysis of political changes in the region relating to the processes of democratization, and, in some cases, to the ongoing quest for democracy. Critically examining the current state of political development in the region, the chapters explore the issues and problems that challenge the region’s governments in terms of democratic transition, democratic consolidation, democratic improvement and good governance. With contributions from leading international scholars, this book will be of great interest to students and scholars interested in Asian politics, and politics and democratization studies more broadly.

This book introduces a multilayered approach to the study of democracy, combining specific knowledge of Japan with theoretical insights from the literature on democratization. It examines different aspects of Japanese democracy—historical, institutional, and sociocultural—to provide a conscious understanding of the nature and practice of democracy, both in Japan and beyond. The book's chapters give testimony to the dynamic nature and continuity of Japanese democracy and analyze its strengths and weaknesses. The central argument of this book is that Japan’s democratization should be seen as a multilayered experience shaped by the gradual process of absorbing democratic ideas, forming democratic institutions, and practicing democratic behaviors and rituals at various levels of society. As the case of Japan shows, democracy is neither a structured formula nor only a set of democratic laws and institutions, but a continuous, gradual process.

Why are there so few Japanese women involved in the political system? In 2019, Japanese women made up 10% of the national Lower House, 21% of the Upper House, and 14% of local assemblies. According to the Inter-Parliamentary Union, this places Japan 164th out of 193 countries when it comes to women’s representation in the legislature. The percentage of women in the Lower House has only increased by fewer than two percentage points since women gained full suffrage and the right to stand for election in Japan in 1946. Eto analyses the various factors that have led to women’s low presence in the Japanese legislature. She evaluates ways in which it might be possible for Japan to catch up and, in doing so, examines how Japanese society continues to perpetuate gender-rigid expectations of people. This text is a valuable study for scholars of Japanese politics and society, and for readers with an interest in the broader issue of the representation of women in politics.

Classically, studies of the Japanese government are both tantalizing and frustrating as scholars standing outside of the system draw conclusions from significant events like crises, disasters, and moments of reform. This has led to a sense of mystery as scholars have developed sophisticated competing theories about how the system actually operates often with resigned comments that there is a black curtain (kuromaku) drawn over the system. The primary challenge is gaining access to the actual process of policymaking on a daily basis given the seemingly impenetrable nature of the bureaucracy. This study is unusual as it cracks open the curtain to see the wheels and rotating gears along with those pulling the levers. Specifically, through the Maureen and Mike Mansfield Fellowship program, the only congressionally authorized opportunity allowing American officials to be placed directly inside a foreign government, the reader is given a firsthand account of these machinations. Through their eyes, readers will be introduced to Japan’s messy policymaking process in telecommunications regulation, pharmaceutical approvals, diplomatic relations, and much more. This approach also allows the author to refine existing theories of Japan’s bureaucratic elite and assess the weak system of control exercised over them by the National Personnel Authority (NPA). This understudied agency is the last vestige of MacArthur’s legacy as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan following World War II. Thus, this study ambitiously hopes to lend a realistic glimpse into the only developed, non-western, industrialized democratic state in the world. More boldly, this study intends to lend a greater appreciation of the complex tug-of-war between democracy and technocracy in other national contexts.

Kabuki is well known for its exaggerated acting, flamboyant costumes and makeup, and unnatural storylines. The onnagata, usually male actors who perform the roles of women, have been an important aspect of kabuki since its beginnings in the 17th century. In a “labyrinth” of gendering, the practice of men playing women’s roles has affected the manifestations of femininity in Japanese society. In this case study of how gender has been defined and redefined through the centuries, Maki Isaka examines how the onnagata’s theatrical gender “impersonation” has shaped the concept and mechanisms of femininity and gender construction in Japan. The implications of the study go well beyond disciplinary and geographic cloisters.

Looks at the rapid rise of the American Tea Party and the large affect it has had on American politics.

According to a myth constructed after Japan’s surrender to the Allied Forces in 1945, kabuki was a pure, classical art form with no real place in modern Japanese society. In Kabuki’s Forgotten War, senior theater scholar James R. Brandon calls this view into question and makes a compelling case that, up to the very end of the Pacific War, kabuki was a living theater and, as an institution, an active participant in contemporary events, rising and falling in consonance with Japan’s imperial adventures. Drawing extensively from Japanese sources—books, newspapers, magazines, war reports, speeches, scripts, and diaries—Brandon shows that kabuki played an important role in Japan’s Fifteen-Year Sacred War. He reveals, for example, that kabuki stars raised funds to buy fighter and bomber aircraft for the imperial forces and that pro-ducers arranged large-scale tours for kabuki troupes to entertain soldiers stationed in Manchuria, China, and Korea. Kabuki playwrights contributed no less than 160 new plays that dramatized frontline battles or rewrote history to propagate imperial ideology. Abridged by censors, molded by the Bureau of Information, and partially incorporated into the League of Touring Theaters, kabuki reached new audiences as it expanded along with the new Japanese empire. By the end of the war, however, it had fallen from government favor and in 1944–1946 it nearly expired when Japanese government decrees banished leading kabuki companies to minor urban theaters and the countryside. Kabuki’s Forgotten War includes more than a hundred illustrations, many of which have never been published in an English-language work. It is nothing less than a com-plete revision of kabuki’s recent history and as such goes beyond correcting a significant misconception. This new study remedies a historical absence that has distorted our understanding of Japan’s imperial enterprise and its aftermath.