Institute of Social Science The University of Tokyo

the University of Tokyo

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BABB, James D.

Division Department of International Japanese Society
Research Fields East Asian Studies
e-mail babbiss.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Teaching and Research Appointments

November 1993 − August 2007 Lecturer in Japanese Politics, Department of Politics, University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
September 2007 − March 2019 Senior Lecturer, School of Geography, Politics and Sociology,　University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne
April 2019 − Associate Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo

Topics of Research

1 World History of Political Thought
Beyond comparative Western and East Asian political thought, a comprehensive history of world political thought must be further developed including Indian, Islamic, African and Latin American political thought. This includes the need to create in parallel a methodology of comparative political thought.
2The Japanese Left: History, Thought and Gender
Research on Japanese socialism and anarchism, including an emphasis on the role of gender and sexuality, grounded in modern Japanese history.
3The Evolution of Japanese Conservatism
An analysis of the transformation of Japanese conservative political thought from the Meiji period up to today.

Selected Publications

  • "Japan's Ministry of Finance and the Politics of Complicity", Review of International Political Economy, 2(3), Summer 1995 pp. 536-560.
  • "The Origins and Nature of Japanese Electoral Reform", Representation, vol. 33(4), Spring/Summer 1996, pp. 155-161.
  • "The Precarious Political Balance in Japan", Asian Affairs, 30(2), June 1999, pp. 154-163.
  • Tanaka: The Making of Postwar Japan. Harlow: Longman, 2000, 138 pages.
  • Business and politics in Japan. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2001, 208 pages.
  • "The Inescapable Web of Structural Corruption in Japan" in E. Gomez (ed.) Political Business in East Asia. London: Routledge, 2002, pp. 324-338.
  • "British Labour and Japanese Socialists: Convergence and divergence, 1945-1952," G. Daniels and C. Tsuzuki (eds.) The History of Anglo-Japanese Relations 1600-2000, Volume 5: Social and Cultural Perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2002, pp. 315-329; Published in Japanese/日本語: 「政権党としての英国労働党と日本社会党」都築忠七、ゴードン･ダニエルズ、草光俊雄 （編）日英交流史1600-2000:社会･文化（東京大学出版会2001）pp. 252-270.
  • "Two Currents of Conservatism in Modern Japan", Social Science Japan, 5(2), October 2002, pp. 215-232.
  • "Corruption and Governance in Japan" in G. Hook (ed.) Contested Governance in Japan. London: Routledge, 2005, pp. 174-191.
  • "Making Farmers Conservative: Japanese Farmers, Land Reform and Socialism", Social Science Japan, 8(2), October 2005, pp. 175-195.
  • "Japan" in D. J. Sager (ed.) Political Parties of the World, 7th edition. London: John Harper Publishing, 2009.
  • Babb J., Mannheim J., Rich R., Willnat L., and Brians C. Empirical Political Analysis: An Introduction to Research Methods. London: Pearson, 2012, 456 pages.
  • "The Seirankai and the Fate of its Members: The Rise and Fall of the New Right in Japanese Politics", Japan Forum, 24(1), January 2012, pp. 75–96.
  • "A New Generation of Conservatives in Japan", Japanese Journal of Political Science, 14(3), September 2013, pp. 355-378.
  • Babb J., ed. The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies. London: Sage Publications, 2014, 664 pages（編著）.
  • "Political ‘Science’ and the Study of Japanese Politics" in J. Babb (ed.) The SAGE Handbook of Modern Japanese Studies. London: Sage Publications, 2014, pp. 443-461.
  • "The Politics of Small Business Organization, Partisanship and Institutionalization: Similarities in the contrasting cases of Japan and the US", Business and Politics, 16(1), April 2014, pp. 1–30.
  • "'Normal' Corruption in Japan" in Ian Scott and Ting Gong (eds.) Routledge Handbook of Corruption in Asia. London: Routledge, 2016, pp. 56-68.
  • A World History of Political Thought. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2018, 552 pages.
  • "Postwar Japanese Political History from Left to Right" in S. Avenell (ed.) Handbook of Postwar Japanese History. Tokyo: MHM Ltd., 2023．
  • Dealing with Crisis: The Japanese Experience and Beyond. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2023（編集）.
  • "The Metaphysics of Comparative Justice" in J. Salamon and H. W. Lee (eds.) Bloomsbury Handbook of Global Justice and East Asian Philosophy. London: Bloomsbury, 2024.
  • "Outside GHQ: The Union Democratization Movement in Occupied Japan 1947-1950", Japan Forum, (forthcoming).
  • A World History of Political Thought. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, Second Edition, (forthcoming).
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