© Columbia University Press
The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change
Paper, 336 pages, 1 line drawing; 2 tables
ISBN: 978-0-231-10843-0
$27.00
/ £18.50
August, 1999
Cloth, 336 pages, 1 line drawing; 2 tables
ISBN: 978-0-231-10842-3
$85.00
/ £58.50
"No American has done a better job of explaining the seemingly inexplicable world of Japanese politics than Professor Gerry Curtis of Columbia. His latest book, his best, is extremely valuable, concise, thoughtful, and very well written." — David Halberstam
"[A] senior statesman in the field . . . . Curtis does not shun the complexity and uncertainty of post-1993 Japanese politics, but revels in it. He has produced a remarkable book that presents the political history of the 1990s in its full complexity." — Steven K. Vogel, Journal of DemocracyUniversity of California, Berkeley
"Logic is a fine book, in fact an outstanding one. The jacket blurbs are, for once, right in their enthusiasm...For the Japanese scholar, the detail-oriented reader and anyone who wants an insider's view, written by an outsider, this book has no current peer." — John E. Tropman, Asia Pacific Business Review
"insightful, comprehensive and impressive...compelling reading....compulsory reading for anyone serious about understanding Japanese politics." — David Walton, Asian Studies Review
"The Logic of Japanese Politics offers a hugely fascinating tour through contemporary Japanese politics. Gerry Curtis makes the mysterious understandable while shaking up your view of what might have seemed obvious. Specialists will appreciate Curtis’s expertise, but anyone who loves politics will be grateful for this insightful look at how power works in Japan." — E. J. Dionne Jr., The Brookings Institution, author of Why Americans Hate Politics
"Gerald Curtis has produced a brilliantly written, powerfully argued, and profoundly insightful analysis of the complex cultural, institutional, and human factors that shape policy in Japan. . . . This is a must-read for anyone who seeks to genuinely understand America’s largest overseas trading partner and major Pacific ally." — Robert D. Hormats, vice chairman, Goldman Sachs (International)
"Few Westerners have a longer or deeper familiarity with the personalities of Japanese party politics than Gerald Curtis. In The Logic of Japanese Politics he provides a masterfully nuanced analysis of the complex interplay between Japanese leaders and institutions during the 1990s. This is an essential book for anyone anxious to follow the political developments of this dynamic decade." — T. J. Pempel, Boeing Professor of International Studies, University of Washington
"Curtis explains the twists and turns of Japanese politics in the 1990s with the canny eye of the insider’s insider, and brings his political science wisdom to bear on the deeper trends of Japanese politics and society." — John Campbell, professor of political science, University of Michigan
"In this vivid, scholarly account of the end of one-party dominance and the search for a new political order Curtis provides fascinating accounts of political maneuvering which he places in the perspective of comparative politics." — Ezra Vogel, director of the Asia Center, Harvard University
"Gerald Curtis is the author of an earlier classic, Election Campaigning Japanese Style, on the electioneering process in Japan. He has done it again with this book—encyclopedic in its coverage of Japanese politics in the 1990s and heuristic in its interpretation of the changes that led to the breakdown of the 1955 system and the emergence of Japan’s new politics at the end of the century. It is an indispensable reference for anyone who needs to know how the political system in Japan works today and needs to understand its uncertain future." — Peter Drysdale, Australia-Japan Research Centre, Australian National University
"There are no scholars better suited than [Curtis] to show the way, given his more than three decades of research on Japan and his unparalleled access to many of the country's major political figures." — Andrew DeWitt, Shimonoseki City University, Japan