Chalmers Johnson

Illusions of Empire: Defining the New American Order

Colossus: The Price ofAmericas Empire. BY NIALL FERGUSON. New York: Penguin Press, 2004, 368 pp.

Comparative capitalism: The Japanese difference

25.95. Fears Empire: War, Terrorism, and Democracy. BY BENJAMIN R. BARBER. New York: Norton, 2003, 192 pp.

The Institutional Foundations Of Japanese Industrial Policy

23.95. Incoherent Empire. BY MICHAEL MANN. New York: Verso, 2003, 284 pp.

Civilian Loyalties and Guerrilla Conflict

25.00. After the Empire: The Breakdown of the American Order. BY EMMANUEL TODD. New York: Columbia University Press, 2003, 192 pp.

The Industrial Policy Debate Re-examined

29.95.

The “Internationalization” of the Japanese Economy:

The Japanese are becoming much more explicit about how their form of capitalism differs from the Anglo-American model. The key differences are: managerial autonomy from the interests of stockholders and employees; social priorities that favor producers over consumers; industrial policy, meaning the development, guidance, and supervision of industry by the government; and the strong Japanese state, whose legitimacy derives from its accomplishments rather than from public consent. The Japanese version of capitalism is fully viable and likely to prevail over its competitors.

The Role of Social Science in China Scholarship

It is a common error to try to translate the concepts and basis for the Japanese governmentbusiness relationship into English-speaking terms and Anglo-American institutions. This article analyzes the unique history and functions of the Japanese institutions of government and business and examines the ways in which their interrelationship has been critical to Japan9s remarkable economic achievements in the past thirty years.

Japanese `Capitalism' Revisited

It is not surprising that Western statesmen and students of politics everywhere have recently begun to give major attention to what are variously termed guerrilla warfare, irregular warfare, paramilitary operations, la guerre revolutionnaire , insurrectional warfare, resistance movements, and other, allegedly military, doctrines. Of course, irregular armed struggles are not a unique feature of mid-twentieth-century politics; however, they have occurred with great frequency in our time and, more important, they have resulted in baffling victories over vastly better armed, better trained, and more numerous forces. President Kennedy, in response to the apparent superiority in military doctrine possessed by Communist forces in Asia, has ordered the rapid expansion of United States “guerrilla and counter-guerrilla forces.” On a more prosaic level, the publication in a national Sunday-morning newspaper of excerpts from a celebrated pamphlet on guerrilla warfare by Mao Tse-tung suggests that “guerrilla warfare,” along with “massive retaliation,” has entered the popular Cold War vocabulary.

An Intellectual Weed in the Socialist Garden: The Case of Ch'ien Tuan-sheng

This article examines why even the mention of industrial policy in the United States has become so controversial. It analyzes the various meanings of industrial policy and concludes that the United States already has an industrial policy—a bad one—and that it seriously needs a much more effective one. It also details some of the specific policies that must be implemented in order to improve the competitive position of American industry in international commerce.

Japan: Who Governs? The Rise of the Developmental State.@@@The Postwar Japanese System: Cultural Economy and Economic Transformation.

Foreign businesspeople have experienced difficulty in selling to or investing in the Japanese market. Often, they explain their frustration in terms of Japans allegedly “closed” economy. This article explores why and how Japans economy was closed and details efforts made in recent years to open it. It rejects the argument that Japans culture is itself a nontariff barrier to trade and instead argues that Japanese government policy has been the main barrier. Underlying this analysis is a comparison of the Japanese capitalist developmental state and the American regulatory state.