Immigration and Democracy in Japan

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Strausz
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Agricultural Workers ◽  
Admission Policy ◽  
Industrialized Countries ◽  
Immigration Control ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Japanese Ancestry

This chapter examines the politics of immigration in Japan. It begins with an overview of the foreign community in Japan today in comparative perspective, focusing on several competing explanations for why Japan is such an outlier when compared with other advanced industrialized countries. It also examines the new visa categories that were formalized by the 1989 and 2018 revisions to the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act, including visas for those with Japanese ancestry and “trainees” (in the case of the 1989 revision), and visas for laborers who had previously been excluded, including agricultural workers and construction workers (in the case of the 2018 revision). Additionally, this chapter discusses Japan’s famously restrictive refugee admission policy as well as the relationship between public opinion, civil society, and immigration policy in Japan. The chapter concludes with an analysis of the ways that Japan’s immigration policy and policymaking might impact the future of Japan’s democracy. Ultimately, the chapter argues that the way that Japan deals with both the admission and treatment of foreign laborers will help shape the nature of Japan’s democracy going forward.

A Bifurcated Global Nuclear Order

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ramesh Thakur
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Nuclear Weapons ◽  
Arms Control ◽  
Full Range ◽  
Nuclear Deterrence ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations

The very destructiveness of nuclear weapons makes them unusable for ethical and military reasons. The world has placed growing restrictions on the full range of nuclear programs and activities. But with the five NPT nuclear powers failing to eliminate nuclear arsenals, other countries acquiring the bomb, arms control efforts stalled, nuclear risks climbing, and growing awareness of the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of nuclear war, the United Nations adopted a new treaty to ban the bomb. Some technical anomalies between the 1968 and 2017 treaties will need to be harmonized and the nuclear-armed states’ rejection of the ban treaty means it will not eliminate any nuclear warheads. However, it will have a significant normative impact in stigmatizing the possession, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons and serve as a tool for civil society to mobilize domestic and world public opinion against the doctrine of nuclear deterrence.

The New Progressive Dilemma through the Lens of Comparative Welfare State and Party Research

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis C. Spies
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Welfare State ◽  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Attitudinal Change ◽  
Welfare Institutions ◽  
The Us ◽  
Social Expenditures ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Cross National

The chapter summarizes the New Progressive Dilemma (NPD) debate, identifying three arguments from comparative welfare state and party research likely to be relevant to the relationship between immigration and welfare state retrenchment: public opinion, welfare institutions, and political parties. Alignment of anti-immigrant sentiments and welfare support varies considerably between countries, especially between the US and Europe, leading to different party incentives vis-à-vis welfare state retrenchment. The chapter introduces insights from comparative welfare state and party research to the debate, discussing inter alia, political parties in terms of welfare retrenchment, immigrants as a voter group, and cross-national variation of existing welfare institutions. It addresses the complex debates around attitudinal change caused by immigration, levels of welfare support, voting behavior, and social expenditures. Combining these strands of literature, a common theoretical framework is developed that is subsequently applied to both the US and Western European context.

Transnational Social Movements and Peaceful Change

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Milcíades Peña
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Global Civil Society ◽  
Dynamic Processes ◽  
Transnational Social Movements ◽  
Relational Perspective ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Interactive Dynamic ◽  
Dominant Treatment

The chapter discusses the relationship between social movements and peaceful change. First, it reviews the way this relationship has been elaborated in IR constructivist and critical analyses, as part of transnational activist networks, global civil society, and transnational social movements, while considering the blind sides left by the dominant treatment of these entities as positive moral actors. Second, the chapter reviews insights from the revolution and political violence literature, a literature usually sidelined in IR debates about civil society, in order to cast a wider relational perspective on how social movements participate in, and are affected by, interactive dynamic processes that may escalate into violent outcomes at both local and international levels.

scholarly journals Exploring the Relationship between Safety Climate and Worker Safety Behavior on Building Construction Sites in Taiwan

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3326
Author(s):  
Wei Tong Chen ◽  
Hew Cameron Merrett ◽  
Ying-Hua Huang ◽  
Theresia Avila Bria ◽  
Ying-Hsiu Lin
Keyword(s):  
Safety Climate ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Safety Training ◽  
Building Construction ◽  
Construction Workers ◽  
Occupational Accidents ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Construction Sites ◽  
Safety Behavior ◽  
The Relationship

Construction occupational accidents are often attributed to workers’ having an insufficient perception of how their actions influence safety in the construction site. This research explores the relationship between safety climate (SC) and personnel safety behavior (SB) of construction workers operating on building construction sites in Taiwan. The study discovered a significant positive relationship between SC and SB of Taiwan’s building construction sites, and in turn SC level had a positive impact on SB participation and overall safety perceptions. The higher the SC cognition of Taiwan’s building construction workers, the better the performance of SB was found to be. The dimension of "safety commitment and safety training" had the greatest relationship with SB. Safety training also had a deep impact on the cognition of SB. Therefore, the organizational culture and attitudes to safety coupled with the successful implementation of safety education and training can effectively enhance SC and worker SB on building construction sites in Taiwan, thereby potentially reducing the impacts of the underlying organizational factors behind safety related incidents.

The increasing toll of racism and discrimination on California agricultural workers and their families under the Trump administration

Ethnicities ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 146879682110182
Author(s):  
Alvaro Medel-Herrero ◽  
Monica Torreiro-Casal ◽  
Joseph D Hovey ◽  
Karla Rascon-Garcia ◽  
Suzette Smiley-Jewell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Immigration Policy ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Agricultural Workers ◽  
Public Programs ◽  
Healthcare Facilities ◽  
Community Attitudes ◽  
Potential Impact ◽  
Negative Impacts ◽  
Trump Administration

Over 800,000 Mexican agricultural workers are employed in California each year, of which approximately 400,000 are estimated to be undocumented immigrants. Previous studies have found President Trump to be distinct in his anti-immigrant rhetoric and explicit verbal attacks of immigrants and refugees, which predicts hostile community attitudes towards immigrants and minorities. We convened 19 focus groups (FG) in diverse regions of California to gather information from Latina/o agriculture workers on the potential impact(s) of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigration policy on this population. Widespread racism and discrimination were overwhelmingly noted in all FG sessions. Participants reported being the targets of increasingly hostile behavior, including hate crimes, that they attributed to anti-immigration rhetoric. Therefore, participants also reported an increasing sense of fear and psychological distress that led them to avoid community participation. Perceptions of racist and intentionally harmful policies contributed to reduced interactions with healthcare facilities and prompted both documented and undocumented participants to withdraw themselves and their children from public programs. For FG participants, the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric and immigration policy severely impacted their community resulting in profound negative impacts on their economic well-being, education, and physical and emotional health.

scholarly journals Reflections on the Relationship between the Government and Civil Society Organizations during the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Israeli Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hillel Schmid
Keyword(s):  
Health Economic ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Strategic Behavior ◽  
Modern Society ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Power Dependence ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract The paper analyzes the relations between the government and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) during the COVID-19 pandemic in Israel. The paper presents the inconsistent policy of the government, which has been influenced by various interest groups and the very limited financial support allocated to CSOs during the health, economic and social crisis. The paper describes the government’s alienated attitude toward the CSOs as well as the reasons for that behavior. Special attention is devoted to the government’s misunderstanding of the mission and roles of CSOs in modern society, especially at times of crisis and national disasters. The paper also analyzes the organizational and strategic behavior of CSOs toward the government, which has also contributed to the alienated attitude of the government toward them. I argue that relations between CSOs and the government should be based on more trust, mutuality, and understanding on the part of both actors in order to change power-dependence relations, and that there is a need to establish more cross-sectoral partnerships for the benefit of citizens.

Ethics, National Sovereignty and the Control of Immigration

1996 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 171-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Myron Weiner
Keyword(s):  
Public Opinion ◽  
Moral Obligation ◽  
Human Right ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Open Borders ◽  
The Relationship

This paper examines the debate as to whether migration is a basic human right or if the claims of outsiders are superseded by the principle of national sovereignty – the moral obligation of states to do the best for their own citizens. In evaluating migration and refugees it focuses on issues of open borders, migration selectivity, the capacity of sovereign states to control entry, the claims of refugees, the relationship between sovereignty and justifiable intervention, and the role of public opinion and morals throughout migration policies.

Trust in Government and the American Public’s Responsiveness to Rising Inequality

2019 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 790-804 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Macdonald
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Income Inequality ◽  
State Level ◽  
Political Trust ◽  
The United States ◽  
Trust In Government ◽  
Combine Data ◽  
Election Studies ◽  
The Relationship

The United States has become increasingly unequal. Income inequality has risen dramatically since the 1970s, yet public opinion toward redistribution has remained largely unchanged. This is puzzling, given Americans’ professed concern regarding, and knowledge of, rising inequality. I argue that trust in government can help to reconcile this. I combine data on state-level income inequality with survey data from the Cumulative American National Election Studies (CANES) from 1984 to 2016. I find that trust in government conditions the relationship between inequality and redistribution, with higher inequality prompting demand for government redistribution, but only among politically trustful individuals. This holds among conservatives and non-conservatives and among the affluent and non-affluent. These findings underscore the relevance of political trust in shaping attitudes toward inequality and economic redistribution and contribute to our understanding of why American public opinion has not turned in favor of redistribution during an era of rising income inequality.

scholarly journals Introduction to the Special Issue: Soft Power of Civil Society in International Relations

2012 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-476
Author(s):  
TAKASHI INOGUCHI
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Opinion ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Soft Power ◽  
The United States ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Policy Makers

This special issue focuses on the role of civil society in international relations. It highlights the dynamics and impacts of public opinion on international relations (Zaller, 1992). Until recently, it was usual to consider public opinion in terms of its influence on policy makers and in terms of moulding public opinion in the broad frame of the policy makers in one's country. Given that public opinion in the United States was assessed and judged so frequently and diffused so globally, it was natural to frame questions guided by those concepts which pertained to the global and domestic context of the United States.

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