Regime Shift

The Liberal Democratic Party, which dominated postwar Japan, lost power in the early 1990s. During that same period, Japan's once stellar economy suffered stagnation and collapse. Now a well-known commentator on contemporary Japan traces the political...

T. J. Pempel is Director of the Institute of East Asian Studies, Professor of Political Science, and holder of the Il Han New Chair at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author or editor of many books, including The Politics of the Asian Economic Crisis and Remapping East Asia: The Construction of a Region (both from Cornell).

This is a 'must' book not only for Japan specialists but also for those interested in contemporary Japanese political economy from a comparative perspective.

Choice. May 2, 2000.:

This fine collection goes beyond prevailing economic analyses. The well-argued and documented essays are tightly integrated in a common framework....This first-rate contribution to the study of Asia's political economy in the era of globalization will benefit upper-level undergraduate and graduate students and researchers.

This book deserves to become a standard in bringing students (in the widest sense of the term) up to a graduate, if not higher, level understanding.

Leslie Hannah, Enterprise and Society. June 2000.:

The first half is an ambitious and serious attempt to describe the postwar political settlement and to explain how national specificities led Japan to an unusually egalitarian, low-unemployment society, with harmonious labor relations under right-wing government. The second half of the book also has much of interest to say on why stable regimes successfully readjusted or broke down from the late 1970s onward.

Alan Rix, University of Queensland. Asian Studies Review, March 2000:

T. J. Pempel has given us another of his challenging books.... This is an important book, and required reading for students of the Japanese political economy.... As one would expect, the book is a rich source of scholarship, in its notes directing students and other interested readers to the best of the relevant research. Its availability in paperback should enable the book to be set as a necessary text for courses on both Japanese and comparative politics. It is strongly recommended.

Dr. John E. Butler, The Nation, 2/1/2001:

Pempel's book is a readable volume and each of the contributions is thoughtful, well researched, and has implications for managers who will have to continue to function in a world that is changing rapidly.... This volume was not specifically written for business managers, but managers will benefit greatly by reading it.