Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy

by T.J. Pempel

The Liberal Democratic Party, which dominated postwar Japan, lost power in the early 1990s. During that same period, Japan's once stellar economy suffered stagnation and collapse. Now a well-known commentator on contemporary Japan traces the political dynamics of the country to determine the reasons for these changes and the extent to which its political and economic systems have been permanently altered. T. J. Pempel contrasts the political economy of Japan during two decades: the 1960s, when the nation experienced conservative political dominance and high growth, and the early 1990s, when the "bubble economy" collapsed and electoral politics changed. The different dynamics of the two periods indicate a regime shift in which the present political economy deviates profoundly from earlier forms. This shift has involved a transformation in socioeconomic alliances, political and economic institutions, and public policy profile, rendering Japanese politics far less predictable than in the past. Pempel weighs the Japanese case against comparative data from the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, and Italy to show how unusual Japan's political economy had been in the 1960s. Regime Shift suggests that Japan's present troubles are deeply rooted in the economy's earlier success. It is a much-anticipated work that offers an original framework for understanding the critical changes that have affected political and economic institutions in Japan.

Genres: Japan

288 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1998

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

adderall is one hell of a drug jfc i read this in one afternoon because i was a bad student and didn't learn properly this semester and had to write a paper on stuff i never learned so i cram a module worth of info into my brain in one day usually i don't put school books unless i truly read them and yea i skipped the other country sections but dam this was some intense word absorption on my part that I've never seen before

[Yalin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pempel's work is not only an interesting take on the changes that occured in Japan between 1960 and 1990, but also provides an equally interesting framework of analysis for the study of broad social, political and economic change in a given country. It is a great read and systemic analysis on the development of the Japanese state in the second half of the 20th century, in such a short amount of space.

[Britlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminds me immensely of his lectures-- humor-filled while extremely informational. I appreciated his use of America, the UK, Italy, and Sweden as comparative cases, to provide some broader context for his argument of Japan's rather unique path.