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Government and Politics in Japan

Government and Politics in Japan

Programme: M. Phil
Course No: EA 606
Semester: Monsoon
Credits: Three
Course Teacher: Dr. H.S. Prabhakar
Content : Revised as on 12 January 2007 Winter Semester
 

COURSE OUTLINE

  • Meiji Restoration

Meaning, Constitution, Structure of Government,  

Parliamentary Politics and Role of Military in State 

Policy Making.

  • Occupation Reforms    

Constitution, Land Reforms, Bureaucracy

  • Political Parties and their Support base –  

Conservatives : LDP, 

Progressives : JSP and JCP

and Centrist Parties : Komeito and    

DSP - Factions, Koenkai and Unions.

  • Government Structure

National

Prime Minister, Bureaucracy, 

Administrative Guidance, Administrative  Reforms.

Local     

Parliament, Committees, Election System

Central-local relations.

  • Issues                  

Foreign and Defense policy, Question of Deploying 

SDF Overseas, Changing Regional and International  
Politics, Impact and Japanese Response.        

Social Welfare policy – Medical Care, Pension System.

Human Rights in Japan: Burakumin, Koreans, Foreign Residents, Women and Human Rights Policy.

  • Nationalism and Internationalism in Japanese Politics.
  • Coalition Governments

    In 1990s – Decline of LDP dominance, Political

    Realignment, Political Reforms, Contours of 
    Two-Party System.

Importance of Structural and Political Reforms.

Koizumi and Abe and Challenges of 21st Century. 
(courting China and India, dealing with Iraq and Terrorism)    

  • Summary and Comments:  Performance and  Prospects for  Liberal Democracy in Japan.  

A warm welcome to the modified and updated website of the Centre for East Asian Studies. The East Asian region has been at the forefront of several path-breaking changes since 1970s beginning with the redefining the development architecture with its State-led development model besides emerging as a major region in the global politics and a key hub of the sophisticated technologies. The Centre is one of the thirteen Centres of the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi that provides a holistic understanding of the region.

Initially, established as a Centre for Chinese and Japanese Studies, it subsequently grew to include Korean Studies as well. At present there are eight faculty members in the Centre. Several distinguished faculty who have now retired include the late Prof. Gargi Dutt, Prof. P.A.N. Murthy, Prof. G.P. Deshpande, Dr. Nranarayan Das, Prof. R.R. Krishnan and Prof. K.V. Kesavan. Besides, Dr. Madhu Bhalla served at the Centre in Chinese Studies Programme during 1994-2006. In addition, Ms. Kamlesh Jain and Dr. M. M. Kunju served the Centre as the Documentation Officers in Chinese and Japanese Studies respectively.

The academic curriculum covers both modern and contemporary facets of East Asia as each scholar specializes in an area of his/her interest in the region. The integrated course involves two semesters of classes at the M. Phil programme and a dissertation for the M. Phil and a thesis for Ph. D programme respectively. The central objective is to impart an interdisciplinary knowledge and understanding of history, foreign policy, government and politics, society and culture and political economy of the respective areas. Students can explore new and emerging themes such as East Asian regionalism, the evolving East Asian Community, the rise of China, resurgence of Japan and the prospects for reunification of the Korean peninsula. Additionally, the Centre lays great emphasis on the building of language skills. The background of scholars includes mostly from the social science disciplines; History, Political Science, Economics, Sociology, International Relations and language.

Several students of the centre have been recipients of prestigious research fellowships awarded by Japan Foundation, Mombusho (Ministry of Education, Government of Japan), Saburo Okita Memorial Fellowship, Nippon Foundation, Korea Foundation, Nehru Memorial Fellowship, and Fellowship from the Chinese and Taiwanese Governments. Besides, students from Japan receive fellowship from the Indian Council of Cultural Relations.