Modern Democratic Theories and Political Education in Japan

Abstract

This paper examines the “subjectifi cation” function of political education in democracy, considering the present situation of political education in Japan. In particular, from the point of view of political science, it focuses on the relationship between democratic theories and political education and considers whether the possibility of the self-transformation of human beings is included in such theories. In Japan, the political education provided at school is aimed at conferring information and knowledge of the existing political system as a sovereign citizen, and at fostering attitudes toward and motivation for participating in politics. Political education in Japanese high schools tends to be biased towards the functions of “qualifi cation” and “socialization” in order to maintain political neutrality, as stipulated by the Basic Education Act of Japan. More fundamentally, what kind of political system people understand democracy and how people understand a citizen in the political system seem to contribute to the tendency as well. In order to consider the future direction of political education in Japan, we need discussion from a wider perspective through the theoretical reexamination of democracy. In the aggregative democracy model, a citizen’s preferences are treated as given. It is not concerned with how the citizen’s preferences were formed or how their values and preferences were changed as a result of interactions with others through participation in the political process. The deliberative democracy model, in contrast, takes the view that human beings can be transformed, and therefore there is an opportunity for political education. However, it has been pointed out that the deliberative democracy model restricts citizens from participating in deliberation because the model requires rational deliberation. Iris Young calls this internal exclusion and suggests communicative democracy as a democratic model to overcome it. Young’s communicative democracy advocates the importance of political education that opens up the possibility of self-transformation through interactions with others with diff erent views. Modern Democratic Theories and Political Education in Japan