Reflections on governance and democracy in Asia and Japan (book review)

Major questions on governance and democracy are at the heart of these two works on the politics of Asia and Japan—Governance and Democracy in Asia and Japanese Politics: An Introduction. What are the values that underpin the governing structures of these societies? What role has the 'state' had in transforming Asian countries from developing to developed economies? And how are the peoples of these countries viewing such changes? These two books seek to understand the political transformations that have taken place in Asia and Japan, especially since the end of the Cold War, although they take quite different approaches. Governance and Democracy in Asia, which is edited by Takashi Inoguchi and Matthew Carlson, provides a broad account of the region's evolution. By contrast, Japanese Politics, which is authored solely by Inoguchi, concentrates on the particular case of Japan, an early democratiser in the Asian region.