CONFLICTS BETWEEN PUBLIC OPINION AND GOVERNMENT POLICY ON FOREIGN AND DEFENCE ISSUES IN CHINA AND JAPAN

Abstract

In Warring States era narratives of state formation, the first leaders were not soldiers but rather technical innovators. Under this model, the earliest states formed as particular individuals developed new agricultural or flood defence techniques, and others moved closer to them in order to benefit. Political legitimacy was a product of the ability to confer material benefits on others. We use survey data to show that this classical conception of political legitimacy still has a strong effect on perceptions of government. Participants were selected in China and Japan - two countries that shared much of their political culture before adopting radically different institutions in the 20th century. They were asked to answer open-ended surveys on “deal-breaker” issues, thus identifying factors susceptible to provoke the loss of government legitimacy. In both cases the traditional model prevailed.