Japan and the Enemies of Open Political Science

Book excerpt: The central argument of Japan and the Enemies of Open Political Science is that Eurocentric blindness is not a moral but a scientific failing. In this wide-ranging critique of Western social science, Anglo-American philosophy and French theory, Williams works on the premise that Japan is the most important political system of our time. He explains why social scientists have been so keen to ignore or denigrate Japan's achievements. If social science is to meet the needs of the `Pacific Century', it requires a sustained act of intellectual demolition and subsequent renewal.