Value Politics in Japan and Europe

by François Foret (Editor), Airo Hino (Editor)

Overview

This book explains the increasing importance of value politics in Europe and Japan, shedding light on various arenas: social values; parties, elections and politics; public action, private sector and law; identity politics and religion; media and public spheres.

It analyses how, against different but commensurable backgrounds, the rise of value politics alters (or not) the political game, for which purposes and with which effects. Applying both qualitative and quantitative methods from a wide range of primary and secondary sources, the comparison is organized by joining skills from experts of Japan and Europe and by systematizing a common analytical framework for the two cases. As such, it presents a revealing and unique analysis of the changing relationship between values and political behaviour in the two polities. Beyond the comparison, it also documents the opportunities and challenges underlying the interactions between Europe, Japan and the rest of the world; and the competition/combination between different versions of modernity.

This book is of key interest to scholars and students of European studies and politics, Asian politics/studies, Japanese studies/politics and more broadly to comparative politics, sociology, cultural/media studies, and economics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367551278
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/14/2021
Series:	Globalisation, Europe, and Multilateralism
Pages:	206
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

François Foret is Professor of Political Science at the Université Libre de Bruxelles, Belgium, and Researcher at Cevipol.

Airo Hino is Professor at the School of Political Science and Economics at Waseda University, Japan.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction - Values in Japan and Europe: A comparative historical, socio-cultural and political perspective 2. Are authoritarian values in Europe and Japan on the rise? 3. An exploration of the salience of authoritarianism in Japanese and European party manifestos 4. Decline of pillarisation in Europe, resilience in Japan? The case of value-based parties: Komeito and Christian democracy 5. From Filter Bubble to Social Divide: Social Polarisation in Europe and Japan 6. Values in Japanese and European news media: The representation of news diversity within a medium and across media 7. Values in the securitization of religion in Japan and Europe 8. The role of Values in Managing Diversity in Europe and Japan 9. Values at the crossroads of politics and the market. The Ghosn affair as a test of corporate transparency and accountability 10. Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

"This book offers rigorous and in-depth comparative discussions on "values politics" in Japan and in Europe. It will be of interest to scholars in international relations and politics, Japanese Studies and to policy makers in both Japan and Europe."

Erica Baffelli, University of Manchester, UK

"Experience of value upheavals, with an emerging orientation toward authoritarianism and crises of legitimacy on democracy, has been much discussed but independently in both Japan and Europe in the first two decades of the 21^st century. Does this actually occur in common or show any difference between Japan and Europe? What groups of citizens are supporting the trend? This fascinating volume, collaborated by joint research of Japanese and European scholars, asks these questions from multiple perspectives using powerful multi-empirical methods with effective use of comparative datasets, shows how much value changes in Japan and Europe are constrained by polarization and diversification in the political, sociocultural, historical, institutional context as well as social network and media. It also examines the differentiation of authoritarian value for different demographic groups in Japan, where Asian vertical social-relational emphasis and harmony-oriented values are amalgamated, and reveals its contrast with Europe, where the values are much linked with ideological fissures."

Ken’ichi Ikeda, Doshisha University, Japan

From the Publisher