Politics East and West

This book compares stability and change in the political culture of the relatively new Asian democracy Japan and the much older Western democracy Britain. While the democratic polity emerged incrementally and indigenously in Britain, it was essentially a modern and in many ways foreign implant in Japan. By analysing long-term trends and recent changes in political attitudes, support for government institutions, participation, voting behaviour, and policy-making in the two polities, the authors seek to bring us a unique perspective on these two dynamic island political cultures on opposite ends of the Eurasian land mass. This study will be useful as a supplemental text in upper-level undergraduate and graduate courses in comparative political systems or political cultures, particularly those focusing on industrial democracies. It can also be used in courses on either British or Japanese politics.