Synopses & Reviews
This volume offers a comparative analysis of Japanese and Russian politics in the 2010s, examining both domestic dimensions and foreign policy. A bi-national collaborative effort, the volume is structured to offer perspectives on each country from both Russian and Japanese scholars. An introduction by Takashi Inoguchi gives a historical overview of the two countries' paths to development as 'late comers' vis-à-vis the West in the late nineteenth century. The analysis that follows reveals that Japan and Russia have come to acquire genuinely striking contrasting features: frequent leadership change despite extraordinary societal stability and continuity in Japan and infrequent leadership change despite extraordinary ups and downs in Russia.
About the Author
Takashi Inoguchi is Professor Emeritus at University of Tokyo, Japan, and President of the University of Niigata Prefecture, Japan. The former Assistant Secretary General of the United Nations, he received his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. His recent books include Japanese Politics Today, Political Parties and Democracy, and The Troubled Triangle.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction - Japan and Russia; Takashi Inoguchi
PART I: JAPANESE POLITICS: LEADERS, POLITICAL PARTIES AND ECONOMIC POLICY
2.1. Politics of Swings; Takashi Inoguchi
2.2. Political Parties in Disarray; Dmitry Streltsov
PART II: RUSSIAN POLITICS: LEADERS, KREMLIN AND POLITICS OF VPERYOD (FORWARD)
3.1. Politics of Volatility; William Smirnov
3.2. Politics of Dictatorship and Pluralism; Nobuo Shimotomai
PART III: JAPAN AND RUSSIA ECONOMICS
4.1. Economics Takes Command; Yutaka Harada
4.2. Politics of Modernization; Liubov Karelova
PART IV: JAPANESE FOREIGN POLICY: "SEARCHING AN HONORABLE PLACE IN THE WORLD"
5.1. Never at Home Abroad; Shigeki Hakamada
5.2. Foreign Policy in Statu Nascendi; Sergey Chugrov
PART V: RUSSIAN FOREIGN POLICY: VPERYOD (RUSSIA GO FORWARD) EASTWARD?
6.1. Improvising at Kremlin; Akio Kawato
6.2. Pragmatic Realism; Sergey Oznobishchev