Political Thought and Japan's New Left Movements: Transformations in Radical Theory

(Hardback)

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Arguing for the importance of taking Japanese political thought seriously, this book is the first to bring together authoritative essays by world experts on the thinkers who shaped Japan's New Left movement. In doing so, it demonstrates the distinctiveness and significance of Japanese left-wing thought, providing an invaluable resource for students of twentieth-century radical politics.

Highlighting connections between thinkers, their historical circumstances, and their biographies, Political Thought and Japan's New Left Movements provides concise and accessible overviews of the theoretical approaches developed by key political thinkers and evaluates the development and impact of their ideas.

The 1960s New Left doctrine, which broke with the seemingly outdated orthodox Marxist approach, became a cultural and political force that reshaped, albeit in diverse and unintended ways, the nations in which it emerged. Japan's experience of the New Left was no less dramatic, yet Western thinkers have largely overshadowed the contributions of Japans New Left. This book finally redresses the balance and shines a light on Japanese New Left interpretations.

Author Bio

Christopher Perkins is Senior Lecturer in Japanese at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He is the author of The United Red Army on Screen (2015) and The Tokyo University Trial and the Struggle for Order in Postwar Japan (2024), as well as numerous journal articles and translations on the pre and postwar Japanese student movement.

Ferran De Vargas is UKRI Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Edinburgh, UK, having previously been Juan de la Cierva-Formacin Early-Career Postdoctoral Fellow at the Open University of Catalonia, Spain. He is the author of a book on the history of the Japanese New Left, Izquierda y revolucin. Una historia poltica del Japn de posguerra [1945-1972] (2020) and of articles in academic journals such as positions: asia critique, Japan Forum, and Modern Asian Studies.