Date: Thu, 15 Mar 2001 12:25:52 +0900 From: JC Helary <helary at eskimo.com> To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> Mori's Political Woes Pale Next to Japan's Systematic Trouble
>
> 09 March 2001
>
> By George Friedman
looks like mori's going to be off by the end of april, but they don't seem to have decided exactly when yet. there was a 'non confidence' (???) motion proposed in the parliment a few days ago but even komeito did not support it, they said it was a maneuver to delay decisions on budget. they said their oposition to the motion does not mean they support the mori cabinet. it only means they want to have a budget as quickly as possible. even the local papers had little calendars showing a probable departure time for mori.
jc helary
ps about japan's mysterious shift from liberalism to militarism at the beginning of the century and a parallel with the current situation, i wonder if there are constitutionalists/historians on the list who know a little bit about the meiji/taisho beginning of showa era because i don't see what journalists who mention that actually mean. even if japan does not look like a 'democracy' it is 'much more' one now than it was under the meiji constitution, there is just no possible parallel between the two era, neither in term of political activity, social/economic activity etc. i am reading a book on japan constitutionalism and nothing mentions political liberalism as an official doctrine for the meiji constitution times. in fact, from the end of the 250 years 'military' rule in the 1860' to the end of ww2 it looks like the process was in fact the opposite : a systematic reinforcement of the role/power of the tenno that makes the regime one of the most absolute regime of his time by the beginning of the 1890' with regular crack downs on opposition leaders/communists/socialists/anarchists. the liberals had 'some' freedom as long as it did not 'polute' the socio-political atmosphere too much, so i suppose what is called 'liberalism' before the middle of the 20's is only when the opposition had still some room to publish opinions, make discourses in the assembly and support the labor movement.