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Occupation Politics

American Interests and the Struggle over Health Insurance in Postwar Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Adam D. Sheingate and
Takakazu Yamagishi
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Abstract

Contemporary events illustrate both the opportunities and the obstacles to democratic nation-building through military occupation. In addition to international influences or prewar legacies, domestic political forces within the occupying nation also set limits on the capacity for social and political change. We illustrate this dynamic by examining the effects of U.S. interest group politics on Japanese health policy during the American occupation after World War II. These struggles over health policy in postwar Japan illustrate that military occupations do not operate in a political vacuum but are shaped by the push and pull of domestic interest group politics back home.

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Social Science History , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , Spring 2006, pp. 137 - 164
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Copyright © Social Science History Association 2006 

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