Grant amount：\4290000 （ Direct Cost: \3300000 、 Indirect Cost：\990000 ）

Christian Democratic parties were the most powerful political actors in Western Europe since the end of the World WarII, but after 1990s most of them lost power and went to opposition. After the years of opposition, some parties weresuccessful in reforming the party and returned to power. In this research we tried to explore the recent dynamism of Christian Democratic politics by distinguishing the factors contributing to the renewal of Christian Democratic parties. We hope that this research would shed light on the ongoing process of restructuring of conservative politics in WesternEurope.

researchmap

Grant amount：\30030000 （ Direct Cost: \23100000 、 Indirect Cost：\6930000 ）

This project aimed to deconstruct and reconstruct International Politics and International Relations, referring to analytical concepts and theoretical frameworks of Gender Studies. We have analyzed states and societies at various stages of development from gender perspective and proposed a hypothesis of "gender dynamics" of International Regime.

researchmap

Grant amount：\18590000 （ Direct Cost: \14300000 、 Indirect Cost：\4290000 ）

This project attempts to conduct a comprehensive research on the features of multicultural societies by engaging in a comparative case analysis on the policy processes of North-American, West European, and East European countries. It does so by focusing on the new issues regarding minority cultures and multicultural policies over the past decade in areas such as education, welfare, and human rights.

researchmap

Grant amount：\18850000 （ Direct Cost: \14500000 、 Indirect Cost：\4350000 ）

As stated below, our project primarily aims to conserve, organize, and publish Hitoshi Ashida's documents, which are mainly his diaries (1905-1945), his letters, and his photographs. We have now microfilmed or digitalized the following documents and materials into CDs or DVDs:
1. Hitoshi Ashida's Diaries
2. Hitoshi Ashida's Documents I, or the ones collected be Motoharu Shimokobe's collection
3. Hitoshi Ashida's Documents II, or his newspaper and periodical articles
4. Hitoshi Ashida's Photographs
5. Hitoshi Ashida's Documents III, or the ones in the collections of the Fukuchiyama Museum of History and Folklore
6. Hitoshi Ashida's Documents IV, or almost all his articles on Tokyo Dayori
7. Hitoshi Ashida's Documents V, or the ones in the collections of the Modern Japanese Political History Materials Room in National Diet Library
8. Hitoshi Ashida's Documents VI, or the Supplement of his ones
9. Hitoshi Ashida's Documents VII, or his lectures and speeches
In addition, we contributed to the City of Fukuchiyama by having a symposium on Ashida co-hosted with City Office on 5 September 2009.
We also organized a research meeting New Diplomacy and Middle-of-the Road Politics : Hitoshi Ashida before and after the War at the Annual Convention of Japanese Political Science Association on 11 October 2009. We will be planning to publish the Hitoshi Ashida's Diaries 1905-1945 by 2011.

researchmap

Grant amount：\12400000 （ Direct Cost: \12400000 ）

This study attempted to analyze the various aspects of the recent defense of the rights of minority cultures. First, the study attempted to construct an analytical framework that integrates both philosophical and historical approaches. In order to do so, the study attempted to read some basic literatures dealing the issues of minority cultures written by such writers as John Rawls, Michael Walzer, Will Kymlicka and Bhikhu Parekh. One of the major findings of the research was that the focus of these writers have recently revealed a significant move from abstract arguments regarding identity to more concrete arguments regarding policies necessary to implement the demands of minority cultures. Second, the study has conducted a through-going field research in North America, West Europe and East Europe. One of the major findings of the study was that the arguments for minorities can be classified into the strategic considerations regarding the political movements for recognition of the minority identities and the arguments for implementing policies for cultural coexistence. Third, the study has attempted to figure out the future visions of policy systems for accommodating cultural minorities in Japan by comparing these foreign arguments with those of the contemporary Japan. It revealed that one feature of Japanese cultural minority lies in its weak voices, which means that minority cultures in Japan should seek for cooperation with other minority groups in order to secure stronger voices for recognition.

researchmap

Grant amount：\2600000 （ Direct Cost: \2600000 ）

Main aim of this research project is to provide a comparative and up-to-date analysis of the nature and rise of populist radical right parties or movements in West Europe since 1990s. Our concern is to examine particularly why radical right parties have advanced in a diverse array of democracies, while failing to make comparable gains in countries such as Britain and Sweden. Through case studies of Britain, Italy, Netherlands, France, Belgium, and Germany, we have explained the following primary factors driving or inhibiting this phenomenon from the viewpoint of changing party competition. First, the success or failure of each radical right party is dependent on conflict patterns of established parties in each country. The leaning to right of main conservative opposition parties is critical for minimizing opportunities for the radical right. Second, the identification of radical right parties as anti-establishment or anti-immigration has a great impact on radical right support. While the radical right parties with strong attitudes against immigration are regarded as ‘destroyers' of democracies, populist parties identified as anti-establishment are able to make an appeal for ‘innovator' of democracies. Finally, the prevalence of populism has strong relation with the developments of media strategy in advanced democracies since 1990s, which are characterized by the evolution from modern campaigns to postmodern. campaigns. which are characterized by the evolution from modern campaigns to postmodern. campaigns. We examine the nature and changes of media campaigning from the viewpoint of personalization of party politics.

researchmap

Grant amount：\2900000 （ Direct Cost: \2900000 ）

We reached following conclusions. First of all the neo-conservatism had its origin in the post-war society of the United States of America. Thus it had clear discontinuity with the aristocratic tradition of the European conservatism after the French Revolution. The neo-conservatism of American origin had a relevant characteristic of protecting private properties gained by the new rich. The freedom of economic activities was considered as its imperative. The monetarism became its "official" economy. The "Small Government" was re-proposed as its political goal. On the other hand the Christianity was re-discovered as its traditional norm of values. But in realty the anti-communism offered common emotional ties to the heterogeneous groups gathered into the neo-conservatism. Center-right governments in the European Union have fundamentally accepted the neo-conservatism of American origin. But we think it's extremely difficult for them to keep it without innovating it drastically because of external constraints imposed by the ongoing European integration.

researchmap

Grant amount：\2300000 （ Direct Cost: \2300000 ）

The fundamental purpose of our joint research is to identify the dimension and scope of the organizational transformation of political parties under the ongoing Euroepan integration. While the sovereignty among member states of the European Union become so increasingly shared that the policy choices available to national governments are getting more restricted, political parties have yet a crucial role in the decision making process of each national government. Political parties also reflect the historical and cultural characteristics of each national society. So we tried to analyze six specific cases ( Italy, Britain, Germany, Netherlands and Belgium) in the comparative perspective.
We got the following conclusion. 1) The European integration doesn't directly affect the organizational structures of political parties 2) Political parties basically maintain their own organizations relying on their own historical, institutional and cultural contexts 3) The organizations of political parties have not yet lost their importance in terms of legitimacy and leadership. 4) As showed in the Italian case, the European integration caused drastic organizational transformation of political parities. 5) This exceptional case can be explained by the highly vulnerable structure of the Italian state to external constraints imposed by the European Union.

researchmap