| FT-54577-06 | Research Programs: Summer Stipends | Mary Alice Haddad | The Making of Japanese Democracy | 7/1/2006 - 9/30/2006 | $5,000.00 | Mary | Alice | Haddad | | | | Wesleyan University | Middletown | CT | 06459-3208 | USA | 2006 | Political Science, General | Summer Stipends | Research Programs | 5000 | 0 | 5000 | 0 |
Japan is the best example of the transformation of an impoverished authoritarian country into a successful capitalist democracy. However, much of the political science research on Japan has focused on the "successful capitalist" part of that phrase rather than the "successful democracy" part. This project will reexamine the roots of Japanese democracy. Specifically, I seek to discover how traditional civic organizations, such as neighborhood associations and volunteer welfare commissioners, changed from being instruments of an authoritarian government to the strong mechanisms of democratic accountability that they are today. |