The Core of Japanese Democracy Latent Interparty Politics [Hardcover]

This book seeks to explain how politics actually operates in the Japanese Diet using the author's bilayer theory or dual power structure theory. It is about how politics in Japan operates behind closed doors and how laws are actually made in the Diet. While some parts of the process remain hidden-subterfuge is inherently part of politics-the author uses interviews with party officials, current and former kokkai taisaku-inkai committee members of all parties in the Diet to elucidate the process as much as possible.Introduction: Dissimulation, Enigma, Formalist, Prismatic Society to Bilayer Theory The Bilayer Theory of Japanese Politics Japanese politics in Bilayer Perspective The History of Kokutai Politics: 1980-1993 The Origin and Nature of Bilayer Structure Conclusion

Kuroda has done every student of Japanese Politics a tremendous service by exposing for the first time in any language the details of the way the system really works-'interparty relations committee politics.' It is something most specialists have known only vaguely about. But, without either praising or condemning the 'hidden' process, Kuroda has coolly and clearly put it at the center of the way Japanese politics must be understood and taught from now on.

- Jim Dator, University of Hawaii at Manoa

The Core of Japanese Democracy is a challenging, stimulating and profoundly informative book. Yasumasa Kuroda combines an unusual ability to analyze Japanese political dynamics, its history and institutions, with a broad, international comparative perspective. Based on his 40 years of observation of Japan, interview data he collected from both journalists and high-echelon Diet members, and the existing literature, Kuroda offers comprehensive descriptions and analyses of the dual nature of Japanese political structure. His key observations point to a bilayer theory as the core of parliamentary politics. Kuroda's study raises crucial questions on the nature of ls¾