Comparing can move mountains

I am better than You, Mine is better than Yours. As individuals, we always strive to become better, and in order to achieve this goal we go through our lives comparing things everyday. When we make choices and decisions we always compare the variables that we are supposed to consider.

Comparing has become routine and natural for us humans, we forget that it is one of the most basic forms of analysis that we use. We use comparisons to find out our preferences, to show our advantages, our weak points, etc. Whether it is in pursuance of praise or answers to the most difficult of problems, comparison is always involved. Thus it is safe to say that, we are living in a world driven by comparisons…

Delving into the realm of comparative politics…

What is comparative politics? From my understanding, it is the comparison of the political systems of countries and also identifying their similarities and differences. I also learned that comparative politics explores processes, and regularities among political systems. The process also involves searching for trends, changes in patterns, and it ultimately aims to provide general propositions that describe and explain such trends.

Some information can only be obtained and analyzed through comparing countries. Based on what I have read and learned, I can say that comparison does not only occur in the outer political structure, but more importantly it involves the comparison between the applications of political systems. Comparison is done to see which system is most effective. It may also be done to strengthen the weaknesses of certain countries, one example that I can think of right now is the application of democratic practices. The Philippines can make a comparative study between democracy in the Philippines and democracy in the United States. This can serve as a learning tool for the government, in order to improve loopholes in the current system.

It is also very useful and important to compare countries, in order for a country to see its political system in a different perspective. As I have mentioned as individuals people will always consider things based on their biases. Countries can gain better perspective by looking at how they can fair with or against other countries.

Studying Japanese politics

The most relevant field of comparative politics that I found for the purpose of this blog is the study of one country which naturally, focuses on a single country or institution. In this type of comparison it is necessary to put the study into a larger comparative framework. Meaning reasons as to why the subject is important and where it fits in a larger context should be specified.

I say this is most relevant because our subject deals with one specific country only which is Japan. Studying the Japanese government can be very useful because we can learn a lot from analyzing its complexities and certain unique aspects. What follows are some facts (the list is not limited to what is written hereafter) that makes studying Japanese politics very meaningful and interesting.

First, Japan is the only country in the world which is still ruled by an emperor. As impressive as this fact sounds, it must be noted that the power of the Emperor is just nominal. Real political power belongs to the Prime Minister and other members of the Diet.

Second, significant fact is the one-party domination in terms of politics in the country. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been in power since 1955, and has experienced minimal resistance. It is interesting to note that this single party dominance is not imposed on the people, but rather it has been embraced by the people willfully.

Third is the structure of Japanese Politics. The framework is called a parliamentary representative democratic monarchy. It consists of an executive branch, legislative branch, political parties, and the judicial branch.

Fourth, is their concept of loyalty and pride when it comes to politics. Over the years there have been resignations in the Prime Minister position due to controversies. For example the resignation of Prime Minister Hosokawa in 1994, the resignation of Prime Minister Hashimoto because of the poor electoral showing by the LDP in those Upper House elections, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's resignation from office in 2007. The Japanese are known for being very self-righteous and yet it is notable that corruption and controversies also exists in their government.

Lastly, it is still very interesting how Japan has become one of the most powerful countries in the world, and yet it has no standing defensive forces. Recently there have been moves to change the constitution and re-establish the Japanese army.

In conlusion, studying Japanese politics does not only spur the interest of its learners and bring about thought provoking concepts, it is also very useful in breaking stereotypical notions (both good and bad) that we all had about Japan and her people.

references used for this entry: (feel free to explore them)

Politics of Japan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Japan

Comparative Politics: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_politics

Issues and Methods in Comparative Politics by Todd Landman: http://books.google.com/books?id=JwO4RMxfHxMC&pg=PR3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1

Governing Japan by James Arthur Ainscow Stockwin: http://books.google.com/books?id=JwO4RMxfHxMC&pg=PR3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1

Japanese Politics and Society Final: http://books.google.com/books?id=JwO4RMxfHxMC&pg=PR3&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=0_1