Earlier I asked a question here on whether it was possible to enforce democracy in another country. Many answered "no" saying that democracy by its definition is a freedom of choice, so if you enforce it you take this freedom away from people. But one person's answer was quite puzzling: "it worked well in Japan". So, here is the question: why imposing of democracy worked well in Japan?
2007-06-28 08:14:47 · 11 answers · asked by dolempap 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Government
It's a matter of opinion whether it was "enforced" in Japan or whether the Japanese people chose it. Because it's my opinion that you can't enforce democracy in another country--practically, to do so would preclude democratic government--I think that Japan chose to be democratic.
We can outline the reasons why this is likely. Most important for me is Japan's long history of borrowings from other societies: the Chinese writing system, or industrialization, for example. When America defeated Japan in World War II (and, more broadly, the democratic Allies defeated the dictatorial Axis), the Japanese probably decided that democratic government was better than dictatorial government and chose to go the route of democracy.
2007-06-28 08:36:10 · answer #1 · answered by alguien 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Japan was already a civilized, reasonably law-abiding society, and the defeat they suffered was dramatic enough that they didn't mount anything like insurgency or resistance.
So, the Emperor was religated to ceremonial duties and the proscribed democratic aparatus put into place. It took.
It also worked in Germany, where it was merely a matter of restoring a democracy that had been hijacked by fascism.
In Iraq, you have a different situation - an arbitrarily defined state with deep ethnic and religious divides that was held together only be extreme oppression by a fascist military dictator.
2007-06-28 08:29:51 · answer #2 · answered by B.Kevorkian 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Hi- I do not think an ethnic explanatin would be accurate. Some thnic groups are luckier than others like having access to sea thus more trade opportunities but no ethnic group is genetically more democratic than others. And as regars to democracy and Islamic nations, most of the Islamic nations are not really "nations". They are a sum of tribes put together. They could not overcome the sectarian divisions which the west could have done by switching to secularism a couple of centuries ago. Until tha time they put away their differences and form a united "nation" they would not be democratic.
2016-05-22 00:09:09 · answer #3 · answered by trudy 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The biggest single reason was the retention of the Monarchy. Before WWII the Emeror was regarded as a living god and a direct decendent of Amaterasu the Sun Goddess. Because of the 2 atomic bombs, the Emperor, who up to that time had been very tightly controlled by Prime Minister Hideki Tojo and his Ultra Nationalists, got enough practical political clout to force the militants to capitulate. Then, because he was still regarded as nearly god-like by the populous, he simply had to say "Alright folks, we're a democracy now." And almost everyone went along with it.
2007-06-28 14:06:05 · answer #4 · answered by David M 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I was there during the re-construction boom and I think democracy had nothing to do with their success.
It was free Enterprise at its best. Gvt. never interfered with individual life styles.
Factory woman and men were made to feel very important and tried to contribute as best they could.
A sense of strong nationalism contributed to a healthy and prosperous nation.
A nation that has very few natural resources.
Democracy is a term that politicians lean on to say that they contributed to prosperity in some way, when actually keeping government out of free enterprise is the secret,imho.
2007-06-28 08:30:55 · answer #5 · answered by beesting 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Japan was already a civilized nation. Their education was also up to date, so the people could actually see what was better for them. It's a slightly different situation regarding Iraq and Afghanistan.
2007-06-28 08:26:29 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
it worked well in japan because they had nothing else left, but it took a long time to take seed correctly, they arn,t trying for world domination anymore and don,t have a dictator at the head of its government, just want to live peacefully and prosper, which we should be thinking about us, here now, we
arn,t the worlds big brother charity begins at home, we need to clean up this country before we try patterning our government to somrbody els, face it ours isn,t working very good right now
2007-06-28 08:23:34 · answer #7 · answered by linda f 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
News to me, and probably the Japanese too. I wouldn't exactly classify the Japanese government as a "Democracy", when they still maintain the Emperor status.
2007-06-28 08:20:41 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Let me draw a parallel. When you go into the service and into boot camp they strip you of your identity and rebuild you as a soldier. Same in Japan, we nuked them, occupied them and rebuilt them!
2007-06-28 08:22:07 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Because the Japanese were basically a civilized people.
Their military, however, were barbarians!
2007-06-28 08:18:20 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋