Book Review: The Beginnings of Political Democracy in Japan
| DOI | 10.1177/002070205100600314 |
| Author | H. D. Johns |
| Published date | 01 September 1951 |
| Date | 01 September 1951 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
BOOK
REVIEWS
247
sees
Canadian
political
machinery,
both federal
and
local,
at
work
and
a
brief
sketch
of
political
parties
and
of
the
intervention
of
the
state
in
economic
life.
A
most
welcome
feature
of
this
volume
of
essays
is
found
in
the
fifth
section which
is
devoted
to
an
analysis
and
appreciation
of
the varied
social
and
cultural institutions
of
both
city
and
frontier-the
church, the
school,
the
library,
the
radio,
the
stage,
the
film,
and
the
cultural
pattern
generally.
The sixth
and
concluding section
of
eighty
pages deals
with
Canada's
external
relations,
interpreted
against
a
backdrop
of
historic
forces
of
European, Imperial,
and
American
or
New
World
origins
whose
inter-
play has
consistently
shaped
her
policies
and
determined
her growth
from
colony
to
nation.
The
North
Atlantic
triangular
relationship
with
the
United
Kingdom
and the
United States
has
long been
the
principle
factor
in
Canadian
external
policy,
both
economic
and
political,
and
its
significance
in
Canada's
development
is
succinctly
traced
in
the
final
chapters
of
the
volume.
Here.
are portrayed
the
constant
effort
of
Canada
to
reconcile
divergent
policies
of
Britain
and the
United
States;
her
growth
towards
a
national
maturity
and an
international
status-concomitants
of
her
major
industrial
and
military
accomplishments
through
two
world
wars;
the
increasing appreciation
of
her
strategic
and
economic
position
in
a
post-war
world
that
witnessed
the
decline
of
Britain
and
the
rise
of
the
United States
to
pre-eminence
in
the
West;
and
her
newly-
determined readiness
to
embark
on
positive
policies,
through the
assumption
of
international
responsibilities,
for
the
maintenance
of
inter-
ests
and
principles
embedded
in
her
own
tradition
and
enshrined
in
the
United Nations
Charter.
The
value
of
the
book
is
considerably
enhanced
by
its
twenty-eight
representative photographs
of
the
Canadian
scene
and
a
select biblio-
graphy
of
seventeen
pages,
arranged
by
chapters.
Ottawa,
May
1951.
C.
C.
Lingard
THE
BEGINNINGS
OF
POLITICAL
DEMOCRACY
IN
JAPAN.
By
Nobutaka
Ike.
1950.
(Baltimore,
Md.:
Johns
Hopkins
Press,
under
the
auspices
of
the
Institute
of
Pacific
Relations.
246
pp.
$3.50
U.S.)
Here
is
a book
which
students
and
others interested
in
the
develop-
ment
of
Japan
must
not
miss.
Rarely
has
the
writer
had
the
opportunity
to read
a
book
of
non-fiction
which
reads
so
like fiction.
This
is
not
to
give
the
impression
that
the
work
is
suspect
in
any
way.
Indeed
it
is
very
evident
that
there
is
a
tremendous
and
inspiring amount
of
docu-
mentation
involved.
The
author
has
consulted
some
one
hundred
and
ninety-two
books
and
periodicals
in
English,
Japanese and
German,
and
economic
data
are
examined
from
as
far
back
as
1878.
With
all
this
scholarly
approach
the
book
is
engrossing.
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