Total Defeat

Explaining “stabilization”

Total War: the front lines

euphoriaEarly victory

Total War: the front lines

euphoriaEarly victory atrocity

Total War comes home

Total War comes home

Landscapes of Total Defeat

Total Defeat: Kyodatsu

Total Defeat

Problem: Explaining Stability

•Fears of revolution•Hopes for revolution

Problem: Explaining Stability

Occupation Reforms

1. Dismantle the old order [blamed for the war]

•purge wartime leaders (military, party, business)

•break up zaibatsu •expropriate landlords

Land Reform

Constituencies for and against change

•Land reform: tenants and bureaucratic reforms v. landlords

Labor reform•unions and social policy bureaucrats v.

business elite and economic bureaucrats

Constitutional Reform: adapting old form

Reverse course

Context of deepening “cold war” Fear of left in Japan From about 1947: Crackdown on labor Retreat from zaibatsu dissolution Purge of communists, 1950 De-purge of some of “old guard”

Recap:Explaining “stabilization”

Stability ≠ stagnation or lack of change Hybrid result: mix of promoting, managing,

resisting, changeSCAP mobilizes existing constituencies, shifts

balance among them Effectively: land, labor casesLess effect: zaibatsu dissolution, education,

policingEconomic recovery also critical

Transwar trends in political economy and society Industrial policy

Three iterations: “self-control” circa early 1930sState control: 1940 Control AssociationsPostwar MITI: gets the state-private mix right?

Labor OrganizationWartime controls codify seniority wagesPatriotic Associations feed into inclusive employee

unions Agrarian Reform

Further weaken landlords, strengthen tenants