This book is an integrated examination of Japanese politics in the first two decades of the 21st century, as viewed from the perspective of "anxiety over governance." By empirically highlighting the social-environmental, political environmental, and sociocultural changes that have underlined the long-term political participation and voting behavior of Japanese citizens, the book provides deep insight into how modern democracies function and are perceived in post-industrial societies and reveals the specific processes by which Japanese politics have changed. Additionally, the book provides an analysis of the decline in social capital, the shrinking variety of political parties, and the intermingling of Asian values with liberal democratic values. By examining anxiety over governance, the chapters explore the links between anxiety and Japanese political behavior, revealing that, despite the high regard for democratic politics, Japanese citizens generally experienced a high level of anxiety and negative evaluation of the government, including countermeasures against COVID-19. Featuring surveys of Japanese political behavior over a period of more than 40 years, this book will be valuable reading for students and scholars of Japanese Politics, Political Behavior, and Psychology.

The study of political discussion has been broken into sub-categories including deliberative democracy, discursive studies, dynamics of interpersonal communication, and discussion network analyses, with substantial numbers of books and articles covering each. However, these areas are often treated distinctly and not brought together in a comprehensive and systematic way. Political Discussion in Modern Democracies: a comparative perspective reviews the breadth of the different literatures on political science and provides original comparative analyses of the nature of political discussion and its consequences on political deliberation and behaviour in numerous advanced industrial democracies worldwide. It is divided into two main sections that provide both a review of the field and context for the chapters that follow: Part I studies deliberation and discussion as the object of analysis. Part II concentrates on the consequences of political discussion and deliberation. Covering ten countries across Europe, Asia, and North and South America, this book makes a significant contribution toward broader theories of political communication, deliberative democracy, discussion networks, and political behaviour. It will be of interest to scholars of comparative politics, political communication, political behaviour, governance and democracy.

Many who critique democracy as practiced in East Asia suggest that the Confucian political culture of these nations prevents democracy from being the robust participatory type, and limits it to a spectacle designed to create obedience from the public. Certainly some East Asian nations have had elections for decades, but for democracy to be meaningful, a country needs an active public sphere, political tolerance, egalitarian beliefs, and vigorous political participation. The Asian-values debate focuses on whether the creation of this optimal version of democracy in East Asian nations will be hindered by their shared Confucian cultural heritage and at the centre of this debate is whether there is an active political culture in East Asia that allows citizens to freely discuss, debate, and disagree about politics.

With Japan as its focus, this book examines the role of social networks and political discussion in Japanese political culture and asks whether discursive participatory democracy is indeed possible in East Asia. In order to answer this question the authors undertook the largest academic political survey ever conducted in Japan to give the book exceptional empirical credence. This data reveals how the Japanese people interact politically, concluding that through the powerful influence of social networks on Japanese political behaviour, Japan has a more globalized and less hierarchical society where Confucian culture is not dominant and where creation of a vibrant civil society is possible.

This book will be invaluable for students and scholars of Japanese politics, democracy, civil society, and globalization.

The study of political discussion has been broken into sub-categories including deliberative democracy, discursive studies, dynamics of interpersonal communication, and discussion network analyses, with substantial numbers of books and articles covering each. However, these areas are often treated distinctly and not brought together in a comprehensive and systematic way.

Political Discussion in Modern Democracies: a comparative perspective reviews the breadth of the different literatures on political science and provides original comparative analyses of the nature of political discussion and its consequences on political deliberation and behaviour in numerous advanced industrial democracies worldwide. It is divided into two main sections that provide both a review of the field and context for the chapters that follow:

• Part I studies deliberation and discussion as the object of analysis.

• Part II concentrates on the consequences of political discussion and deliberation.

Covering ten countries across Europe, Asia, and North and South America, this book makes a significant contribution toward broader theories of political communication, deliberative democracy, discussion networks, and political behaviour. It will be of interest to scholars of comparative politics, political communication, political behaviour, governance and democracy.

Many who critique democracy as practiced in East Asia suggest that the Confucian political culture of these nations prevents democracy from being the robust participatory type, and limits it to a spectacle designed to create obedience from the public. Certainly some East Asian nations have had elections for decades, but for democracy to be meaningful, a country needs an active public sphere, political tolerance, egalitarian beliefs, and vigorous political participation. The Asian-values debate focuses on whether the creation of this optimal version of democracy in East Asian nations will be hindered by their shared Confucian cultural heritage and at the centre of this debate is whether there is an active political culture in East Asia that allows citizens to freely discuss, debate, and disagree about politics. With Japan as its focus, this book examines the role of social networks and political discussion in Japanese political culture and asks whether discursive participatory democracy is indeed possible in East Asia. In order to answer this question the authors undertook the largest academic political survey ever conducted in Japan to give the book exceptional empirical credence. This data reveals how the Japanese people interact politically, concluding that through the powerful influence of social networks on Japanese political behaviour, Japan has a more globalized and less hierarchical society where Confucian culture is not dominant and where creation of a vibrant civil society is possible. This book will be invaluable for students and scholars of Japanese politics, democracy, civil society, and globalization.

Social networking fascinates scholars, pundits, and a billion Facebook users. This book shows that whom we know has a vast impact on our political beliefs, actions, and abilities. Prior scholarship has shown that networks are crucial to explaining everything from how bills get through Congress, why people vote, how NGO's become successful in developing nations, and much more; yet an in-depth analysis of the social basis of the rationality is missing. To fill this void, The Social Basis of the Rational Citizen provides the first empirical analysis of the most important hypothesized effect of social network influence on politics: social cognition. Through new lab experiments and survey data, this book shows that decision-making in groups promotes more rational choices and better citizenship. Thus, advice and learning derived from social network contacts are shown to be the basis of decision-making for the rational citizen.