Contemporary Japan / Duncan McCargo

Includes bibliographical references (p. 223-233) and index.

Introduction: Themes and Debates -- The mainstream perspective -- The revisionist approach -- The culturalist perspective -- The country and its people -- Historical Background -- The Tokugawa period (1603-1868) -- The Meiji period (1868-1912) -- Taisho democracy -- Imperialism, militarism and war -- The American Occupation -- The Changing Political Economy -- The Occupation and after -- Consolidating growth -- Savings -- The developmental state? -- The structure of Japanese business -- Busts and booms -- Accounting for the end of the 'miracle' -- Social Structure and Social Policy -- Cultural characteristics -- Family structure -- The urban-rural divide -- Women -- Minorities -- Immigration -- Religions -- Health and demography -- Welfare -- Class and inequality -- Governing Structures -- Electoral system -- The prime minister -- The cabinet and the ministries -- Local government -- The judiciary -- Bureaucracy and the bureaucratic-dominance debate -- The policy process -- Political Society: Parties and Opposition -- The nature of the LDP -- Accounting for LDP dominance -- The high cost of electoral politics -- The politics of construction -- Reforming party funding -- Opposition parties: fragmentation and the quest for credibility -- Other opposition parties -- The labour movement -- The end of LDP rule in 1993 -- Why did the LDP lose power? -- Changes in domestic politics and political economy -- Japanese politics after 1993: the second party system -- An emerging two-party system? -- Socialization and Civil Society.