JAPAN : PARLIAMENTRY RULE IN THE LAND OF CONSENSUS

Like other asian societies, Japan had no democratic traditions prior to 1947.In fact ,its history and culture often worked against Western democratic ideas. Yet today Japan is one of Asia’s oldest parliamentary democracies (the other one,India,came into being at the same time but under very different circumstances ).To see how this remarkable transformation come about ,we must first sketch the historical background of Japan.

Historical Background

Japan’s feudal era lasted until the Meiji Restoration in 1868.At the time ,under the guise of recapturing ancient glories .a new emperor(the Meiji dynasty) was crowned ,and the modernization of Japan was begun.Although some lip service was paid to democracy,Meiji Japan remained an oligarchy .A group of elder statesmen, or , genro, dominated the government. The role of the emperor was long thought to be largely symbolic, but recent scholarship suggests that this interpretation......

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Title: Japan
Approximate Word Count: 5377
Approximate Pages: 22 (250 words per double-spaced page)

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