CONTEMPORARY JAPANESE POLITICS

This is one of the complementary courses within the "Japan" curriculum of the master degree programme in "Lingue, economie e istituzioni dell'Asia e dell'Africa Mediterranea".
The course contributes to the attainment of the teaching goals of the programme in the area of humanities. It aims at providing the knowledge and critical tools required to understand the political system of contemporary Japan. The focus of analysis is on relations between political parties, state institutions and society since the 1990s.

Knowledge and understanding:
- understand structural changes in Japan’s contemporary politics since the 1990s
- know the principal sources for the study of contemporary politics in Japan
- know the main theories for the analysis of Japan’s domestic politics
- acquire the tools needed to understand the political context of socio-cultural phenomena analysed in other courses of the degree programme

Applying knowledge and understanding:
- recognise long-term processes in recent political developments
- navigate institutional and journalistic sources on Japan’s contemporary politics

Making judgements:
- to produce consistent judgments on issues discussed in the course
- to examine critically various kinds of sources

Communication:
- to express and re-elaborate the contents of the program in oral and written form, in a synthetic and effective way. To formulate consistent judgments, without the oversimplification resulting from rote memorisation

Lifelong learning skills:
- to know how to combine the study of different materials (books, academic articles, resources from the internet)
- to be able to independently study materials and topics not covered during the lectures
- to refine the ability to study texts in English and Japanese
- to refine the ability to use the online teaching platform

Basic knowledge of Japanese political history in the contemporary period (as taught in History of Japan, part 2)

The crisis of the "'55 system" / Election reform and reform of political funding / Changes in the organisation of the LDP: president, factions, PARC, constituencies / Comparison between LDP and DPJ / The political decision-making process: LDP, cabinet, advisory organs

Krauss, Ellis S.; Robert J. Pekkanen. 2011. The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP. Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions. Ithaca, London: Cornell University Press. Chps 1-2, 4-9.
Kushida, Kenji E.; Phillip Y. Lipscy (eds). 2013. Japan under the DPJ: The Politics of Transition and Governance. Stanford: Asia-Pacific Research Center. Chps 1, 3, 4.
Nakakita Kōji. 2017. Jimintō: “ikkyō” no jitsuzō. Tokyo: Chūō kōron shinsha. Chps 1-4. (pdf su Moodle)
Nonaka Naoto; Aoki Haruka. 2016. Seisaku kaigi to tōron naki kokkai. Tokyo: Asahi shinbun shuppan. Chps 2-3 (pdf su Moodle).

Final written test: three questions based on the mandatory readings.
Attending students are also required to deliver a powerpoint presentation on an assigned topic.

Students who do not attend lessons should contact the professor at the start of the semester. A written report on an assigned topic will substitute the presentation.

Conventional, teamwork, discussion in class.
Further readings and ppt presentations are available on the Moodle platform.

Italian

written