Japan's Politics Society

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This class is designed to introduce students to the key features and puzzles in contemporary Japanese politics, domestic policy, and foreign policy. We will examine (1) the role of political institutions in shaping modern (postwar) Japanese economic development, political behavior, and political organization, (2) the various actors within the Japanese political system (e.g., voters, politicians, parties, factions, bureaucrats, and firms) and how political institutions guide or constrain their behavior, and (3) how the incentives provided by these institutions and actors have led to various policy outcomes across a number of topics such as: defense and security policy, economic and industrial policy, energy and climate change, gender equality, immigration, international trade, population aging, relations with neighbors, and welfare policy.