Japan Under Construction: Corruption, Politics, And Public Works
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Acceptable
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: pages can have notes and/or underlining in grey lead;
In the shadowy nexus where political power and public money collide, Brian Woodall's Japan Under Construction presents a forensic and unflinching account of the systemic corruption embedded within Japan's construction industry and its ruling political establishment. The book chronicles the notorious dango bid-rigging cartels and the web of collusion connecting construction conglomerates, bureaucrats, and Liberal Democratic Party powerbrokers, revealing how the trillion-dollar public works machine became the engine of postwar Japanese politics. Woodall argues with precision and scholarly authority that this entrenched system of institutionalised graft was not a peripheral aberration but rather a structural pillar of Japan's postwar economic miracle — one that distributed political patronage while suppressing genuine market competition. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and primary sources, his analysis illustrates how the construction state shaped Japanese democracy itself, raising urgent questions about reform, accountability, and whether the foundations of political change can ever be truly laid when the very concrete beneath them is tainted.
Author: Brian Woodall
Format: Hardback
Genre: Politics & law
Condition remarks:
Book: Acceptable
Jacket: Worn/faded, no tears
Pages: Good
Markings: Previous owner
Condition remarks: pages can have notes and/or underlining in grey lead;
In the shadowy nexus where political power and public money collide, Brian Woodall's Japan Under Construction presents a forensic and unflinching account of the systemic corruption embedded within Japan's construction industry and its ruling political establishment. The book chronicles the notorious dango bid-rigging cartels and the web of collusion connecting construction conglomerates, bureaucrats, and Liberal Democratic Party powerbrokers, revealing how the trillion-dollar public works machine became the engine of postwar Japanese politics. Woodall argues with precision and scholarly authority that this entrenched system of institutionalised graft was not a peripheral aberration but rather a structural pillar of Japan's postwar economic miracle — one that distributed political patronage while suppressing genuine market competition. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and primary sources, his analysis illustrates how the construction state shaped Japanese democracy itself, raising urgent questions about reform, accountability, and whether the foundations of political change can ever be truly laid when the very concrete beneath them is tainted.