TY - JOUR
T1 - The Fukushima nuclear accident and Japan’s civil society
T2 - Context, reactions, and policy impacts
AU - Hasegawa, Koichi
N1 - Funding Information:
Taiwan and South Korea introduced similar programs in 1988 and 1989, respectively. Power company revenues are used to fund their programs, which provide benefits to communities permitting the establishment of nuclear stations. These programs are therefore different from the Japanese program, which is funded by government tax revenues earmarked for the purpose. In Europe and the United States, various government subsidies, supplemented by contributions from electric power companies, are provided to site areas, but there are no programs similar to those in Japan. This grant program, based on the Three Laws, is an exceptional program, and one that cannot be accepted easily by a strong civil society with well-developed watchdog organizations to stress transparency and the rule of fairness.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2014.
Copyright:
Copyright 2015 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2014/7/1
Y1 - 2014/7/1
N2 - The Fukushima nuclear accident raised important questions concerning Japan’s civil society: first, what was the role of civil society prior to the accident; second, what were civil society’s reactions to the accident; third, what impact has civil society had on Japan’s nuclear policies following the accident. Focusing on societal, organizational, and local community-level activities, this article explores these questions analyzing documents and news clippings pertinent to the accident, participant observations of protest activities, and a comparative analysis of Japan’s nuclear policies with Germany’s policy shift. The relative weakness of civil society provided the context for the accident. After the accident, however, energetic citizen protests became frequent. The structures around which protests and public demonstrations were organized changed substantially over time. Civil society has begun to influence public policy, and is fostering a deeper public discourse, while advancing policy proposals.
AB - The Fukushima nuclear accident raised important questions concerning Japan’s civil society: first, what was the role of civil society prior to the accident; second, what were civil society’s reactions to the accident; third, what impact has civil society had on Japan’s nuclear policies following the accident. Focusing on societal, organizational, and local community-level activities, this article explores these questions analyzing documents and news clippings pertinent to the accident, participant observations of protest activities, and a comparative analysis of Japan’s nuclear policies with Germany’s policy shift. The relative weakness of civil society provided the context for the accident. After the accident, however, energetic citizen protests became frequent. The structures around which protests and public demonstrations were organized changed substantially over time. Civil society has begun to influence public policy, and is fostering a deeper public discourse, while advancing policy proposals.
KW - Antinuclear activities
KW - Japan and Germany
KW - civil society
KW - nuclear accident
KW - social movement
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U2 - 10.1177/0268580914536413
DO - 10.1177/0268580914536413
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84907184583
VL - 29
SP - 283
EP - 301
JO - International Sociology
JF - International Sociology
SN - 0268-5809
IS - 4
ER -