春雨直播app

This book was written as a college-level introduction to political science as part of Yuhikaku’s new textbook series. Its basic premise is to consider politics from the perspective of the “subjects” rather than the rulers.
 
According to the Constitution of Japan, Japan is a country of popular sovereignty. However, few people experience this in their ordinary lives. Even if sovereignty were vested in the public, few people would have the opportunity to exercise political power. For example, women in Japan have equal rights to men, but are almost non-existent among Diet members and high-level bureaucrats. In addition, the millions of foreign residents of Japan are not given sovereign status in the first place. In this sense, many people in Japan spend their entire lives as subjects of power. As subjects, they pay taxes, use government services, work, and sometimes lose their lives on the battlefield. In Part I of this book, we present political power as the power of the nation-state rather than the power of the people.
 
Why does such power exist? Recent political science textbooks have mostly ignored this issue. Instead, most begin from the assumption that a nation-state has already been established. If ordinary citizens are sovereign and exercise political power, there may be no need to question why such power exists. However, if the public is viewed as “subjects,” then the origin of that power becomes an important question. Therefore, in Part II, the sources of political power are divided into four categories: ideology, economic power, military power, and institutions. Based on this fourfold scheme, this book lays out the logic of nation-state formation from these different perspectives. In the past, most textbooks on this topic were based on the experiences of Western societies; however, this book focuses on Japan’s historical experience as an East Asian country.
 
Who then exercises the established power? Conventional textbooks assume that Japan is a democratic country and generally explain the mechanism by which people control politicians and bureaucrats through the Constitution and other political institutions. In contrast, Part III emphasizes the ways in which the actual operation of political power diverges from the principles of democracy. Political institutions are designed by a small group of elites and their struggles for power determine the course of politics.
 
Thus, this book presents an interpretation of political power by treating Japan as a nation-state instead of a democracy. We hope that this book will help readers confront and resist the power of the elites who rule their lives, form their own interpretations of the world, and eventually work together to change it.
 

(Written by MAEDA Kentaro, Professor, Graduate Schools for Law and Politics / 2024)