Japan’s Political Economy-E2
| Numbering Code | U-LAS06 20022 LE42 | Year/Term | 2022 ・ First semester | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number of Credits | 2 | Course Type | Lecture | |
| Target Year | Mainly 1st & 2nd year students | Target Student | For all majors | |
| Language | English | Day/Period | Tue.2 | |
| Instructor name | HIJINO KEN (Graduate School of Law Professor) | |||
| Outline and Purpose of the Course | This class presents an overview of Japan's post-war modern history and investigates select issues in its political economy. The class is organized into two parts: 1) an analysis of the politics, economics, and society in Japan's post-war history (1945-2020) and 2) an exploration of Japan's industrial relations, gender equality, demographic changes and inter-generational conflicts, centre-local relations, environmental issues et al. as analyzed through the interactions of political forces/institutions and market forces/economic institutions | |||
| Course Goals | The goal of this course is for students to begin to contemplate the interactions between politics, economics, society, and global contexts of a nation over time, i.e. historically. Another goal is for students to improve their English reading and writing skills through studying in English a subject that they may be familiar with in the Japanese language. | |||
| Schedule and Contents |
1. Introduction: What is modern history? What is political economy? Why study Japan? Part one: Japan's post-war history 1990 to 2020 2. Occupation-era Japan: democratization and demilitarization, the "reverse course" and the Yoshida doctrine (1947-51) 3. Post-war economic miracle: economic and social transformations (1952-73) 4. Political struggles and accommodation in the High-growth era (1952-73) 5. End of the High-growth era: Nixon shocks and Oil shocks (1971-1980) 6. Japan in the 1980s: conservative heyday and Bubble economy (1980-1990) 7. Japan's lost decades: economic stagnation and social insecurity (1990-2020) 8. Japan's lost decades: institutional reform and political transition (1990-2020) Part two: Special topics in Japan's post-war political economy (1945-2020) 9. Industrial relations, employment structures, inequalities, and precarity 10. Gender equality issues 11. Inter-generational conflict and "silver democracy" 12. Centre-local relations and rural deopulation 13. Sustainability and environmental issues 14. Exam preparation Total:14 classes and 1 feedback |
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| Evaluation Methods and Policy | Students will be evaluated on short quizzes = 30 % and a final exam OR term paper (depending on student numbers) = 70 % for their grade. | |||
| Course Requirements | This course does not require any prior knowledge on Japan's post-war history or political economy. Students will be expected to read about 20-30 pages of rigorous and academic, though not technical, English. Students will also be expected to write their assignments in English (although this may change according to the class level). | |||
| Study outside of Class (preparation and review) | Students will be expected to spend at least 2-3 hours reading and preparing for each class. | |||
| Textbooks | Textbooks/References | A Modern History of Japan: from Tokugawa Times to the Present (Third Edition), Andrew Gordon, (Oxford University Press), ISBN:978-0199930159, other readings will be assigned accordingly | ||
