Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) [Paperback]

T. J. Pempel (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0801485290 | ISBN-13: 978-0801485299 | Publication Date: November 1998

The Liberal Democratic Party, which dominated postwar Japan, lost power in the early 1990s. During that same period, Japan's once stellar economy suffered stagnation and collapse. Now a well-known commentator on contemporary Japan traces the political dynamics of the country to determine the reasons for these changes and the extent to which its political and economic systems have been permanently altered.

T. J. Pempel contrasts the political economy of Japan during two decades: the 1960s, when the nation experienced conservative political dominance and high growth, and the early 1990s, when the "bubble economy" collapsed and electoral politics changed. The different dynamics of the two periods indicate a regime shift in which the present political economy deviates profoundly from earlier forms. This shift has involved a transformation in socioeconomic alliances, political and economic institutions, and public policy profile, rendering Japanese politics far less predictable than in the past. Pempel weighs the Japanese case against comparative data from the United States, Great Britain, Sweden, and Italy to show how unusual Japan's political economy had been in the 1960s.

Regime Shift suggests that Japan's present troubles are deeply rooted in the economy's earlier success. It is a much-anticipated work that offers an original framework for understanding the critical changes that have affected political and economic institutions in Japan.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (November 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801485290
• ISBN-13: 978-0801485299
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,282,750 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

T. J. Pempel (Ph.D., Columbia) joined Berkeley's Political Science Department in July 2001 and was director of the Institute of East Asian Studies from 2002-2005 and holder of the Il Han New Chair. Just prior to coming to Berkeley, he was at the University of Washington. From 1972 to 1991, he was on the faculty at Cornell University; he was also Director of Cornell's East Asia Program. He has also been a faculty member at the University of Colorado and the University of Wisconsin. Professor Pempel's research and teaching focus on comparative politics, political economy, contemporary Japan, and Asian regionalism. His recent books include From Crisis to Catalyst: The Political Economy of Dynamic Asia (Cornell University Press), Remapping East Asia: The Construction of a Region (Cornell University Press), Beyond Bilateralism: U.S.-Japan Relations in the New Asia-Pacific (Stanford University Press), The Politics of the Asian Economic Crisis, and Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy. Professor Pempel was Chair of the Working Group on Northeast Asian Security of CSCAP, is on editorial boards of several professional journals, and serves on various committees of the American Political Science Association, the Association for Asian Studies, and the Social Science Research Council. He is currently doing research on various problems associated with Asian regionalism.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Achieve true understanding of Japan's political economy, August 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) (Paperback)

Although experts on Japan may have some specific academic criticisms, these should not detract from the overall quality of Pempel's book. The book synthesises an extremely wide body of literature (both English and Japanese language) on Japan's modern political economy, especially less well-known or unorthodox ideas overlooked by many Western texts. As such, it deserves to become a standard in bringing students (in the widest sense of the term) up to a graduate, if not higher, level understanding. It would definitely also make enlightening reading to those Western policy makers and commentators on Japan who have yet to grasp the subtleties of Japan's rise and the even more complicated factors behind its current decline.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading for anyone interested in Japan today., April 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) (Paperback)

Pempel convincingly argues in REGIME SHIFT that the major domestic and international changes taking place in Japan during the last decade or more have cumulatively resulted in a fundamental transformation in Japan's political economy. He then traces the consequences for Japan's present and future of this alteration. A major attempt to synthesize what others have seen as disparate, unconnected events and trends at both domestic and international levels into a coherent view of where Japan is and is going. Must reading for anyone interested in Japanese politics and economics, and its place in the world.

5.0 out of 5 stars A freamework to understand Japan in comprehensive way., December 28, 2001

By 

Suckwoo Lee (Seoul, Seoul South Korea) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Regime Shift: Comparative Dynamics of the Japanese Political Economy (Cornell Studies in Political Economy) (Paperback)

since the 1982, the developmental state, articulated by Chalmers Johson in his infulential book 'MITI', has been the standard approach in the field of North East Asian studies at least in the circle of political economy. but the model of developmental state does not fit into the phenomenon since the 1980s, in SOuth Korea, and the 1973, in Japan. the bureacrats is not that autonoumous like the past, i.e. the rapid growth period, the ruling party proned to be the masters of fork barrel politics, and constituents were not that concensual like the past. there must be some 'shift'. Pempel's work is the attempt to provide a comprehensive framework to explain the shift in systematic and succinct way. his framework is based on the concept of 'regime' which is common in the field of comparative politics. I think he succeeded in that point.
but the concept of regime has some limitation: for example, it can't expalin why keiretsu or main bank system developed and why it has been disolved since 1980s. sure I know it was not Pempel's intention to include them. but to understand Japan or Korea, we should include big businesses. without them, explanation can't be comprehensive. it's the point of political economy, I think.