Informal Politics in East Asia / Edition 1

by Lowell Dittmer, Haruhiro Fukui, Peter N. S. Lee

Overview

The authors of Informal Politics in East Asia argue that political interaction within the informal dimension (behind-the-scenes politics) is at least as common and influential, though not always as transparent or coherent, as formal politics. This book is a pioneering effort to delineate the various forms of informal politics within different East Asian political cultures and to develop some common theoretical principles for understanding how they work. Featured here are contributions by political scientists specializing in the regions of China, Taiwan, Japan, the Korean peninsula, and Vietnam.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521645386
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	06/19/2000
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	344
Product dimensions:	5.98(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.79(d)

Table of Contents

Introduction: on the significance of informal politics Haruhiro Fukui; Part I. Informal Politics under Dictatorship: 1. Informal politics among the CCP elite Lowell Dittmer; 2. North Korean informal politics Samuel S. Kim; 3. Informal politics of leadership succession in post-Mao China Peter N. S. Lee; 4. Clientage in the PRC's National Defense R&D Sector Benjamin Ostrov; 5. Formal structures, informal politics and political change in China Joseph Fewsmith; 6. Informal politics in Vietnam Douglas Pike; 7. Organizational involution and sociopolitical reform in China Xiaobo Lu and Lowell Dittmer; 8. Psychocultural foundations of informal groups Chung-fang Yang; Part II. Informal Politics under Democracy: 9. Informal politics of Japanese diet elections Haruhiro Fukui and Shigeko N. Fukai; 10. The election process and informal politics in South Korea xx Soohyon Chon; 11. Informal politics in Taiwan Tun-jen Cheng and Tein-cheng Chou; 12. Conclusion: East Asian informal politics in comparative perspective Lowell Dittmer.

Editorial Reviews

"This work studies informal politics in Confucian systems and is offered as an aid to understanding the workings of these systems...This work is a fine introduction about a subject you will be hearing more about." Indochina Chronology

"This scholarly examination of the political role of personal relationships and informal networks in Asia provides an authoritative framework..." Foreign Affairs

"Fukui successfully demonstrates the significance of formal, state-centric politics in advanced societies of the Western world; and he makes an equally strong case for the significance of informal or "infrastate" politics, particularly in Asian societies where the fusion of state and society is common, such as those that evolved within Confucian traditions." Perspectives on Political Science

"This valuable contribution to comparative politics theory and East Asia regional studies belongs in all major university collections." Choice

"This valuable contribution to comparative politics theory and East Asia regional studies belongs in all major university collections." Choice

From the Publisher