"Takenaka's strength lies in locating specific points where alternative actions might have facilitated a smooth Japanese transition to democracy . . . Takenaka thus offers an important corrective to the determinist vision of a prewar Japanese political culture adverse to democracy."—Frederick R. Dickinson, Pacific Affairs "Harukata Takenaka has written a sobering and impressive work on how democracy can break down before it is given solid birth—sobering because, of 31 Asian sovereign countries, only Japan and South Korea practice a fully fledged democracy while the rest are flawed democracies and hybrid and authoritarian regimes."—Takashi Inoguchi, Professor Emeritus, University of Tokyo and President, University of Niigata Prefecture "This book is a major contribution to the comparative literature on hybrid regimes and to the historical literature on pre-war Japanese politics. Takenaka shows how political leaders' bumbling policy performance and narrow pursuit of short term advantage exacerbated the dilemma of institutionally weak party government and a strong and increasingly politicized and ambitious military. This is a fascinating and important work of political history."—Larry Diamond, Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies, Stanford University
