ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the trajectories of democratization, the role of civil society in the process of political change, the configurations of social movement actors, and movements' recent reactions to heightened socioeconomic inequality in three East Asian democracies. These social challenges drew both the political elite and civil society to articulate and mobilize around issues of class, inequality, and redistribution. Political parties translate public interests into actual policymaking by competing in elections and coming to power to form the government. Civil society actors play an equally significant role for democratic governance as they articulate and mobilize public interests in connection to or outside the formal political process. Japanese civil society has reacted and made adaptations to the changing social environment, and its activism can be identified in three broad developments. Political freedom and civil liberties have increasingly been infringed in recent years and civic groups rarely see their advocacy and collective action bear fruit in actual policy change.
