THE GOVERNMENT OF MODERN JAPAN: INTEREST GROUPS IN JAPANESE POLITICS Importance of Interest Groups in Japanese Politics |
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Gerald L. Curtis :: One of the characteristics of politics in modern democracies is that citizens basically express their political preferences and their political desires in two ways: They vote and they join interest groups. Interest groups have a huge role to play in politics in modern twentieth century democracies. We know in the United States how important interest groups are, whether it be the AFL/CIO labor federation, or the medical association, or business groups, and other interest groups, all of which play a very important role in supporting parties and politicians, raising issues onto the political agenda. And the same is true in Japan. In fact, Japan has more interest groups, more organizations of people seeking to get their views represented in the political system, than is true for almost any other country except for the United States itself. Japan, like the United States, is a nation of joiners. People join groups. And so in Japan, to understand how the political system works, one has to look at the structure of interest groups and sort of map the interest group organizations that are so important a player in the Japanese political system. |
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