Italy and Japan: How Similar Are They?

1 Introduction.- Part I Society and Demography.- 2 Italy’s Population: A Portrait.- 3 Changed Discourses on Demography in Japan.- 4 Where Is the Forgotten Giant Heading to? The Current State and Future of Japanese Economics and Politics.- Part II Politics.- 5 Japan’s US-‘Imposed’ Post War Constitution: How, Why and What for?.- 6 Italy: Birth of the Post War Constitution and the Republican Constitutional Order.- 7 Parties and Electoral Behaviour in Italy: From Stability to Competition.- 8 The Italian Election of February 2013: A Temporary Shock or a Harbinger of a New Party System?.- 9 Flocking Together? The Breakdown and Revival of Political Clientelism in Italy and Japan.- 10 Studying Electoral Engineering via a Double-Barrelled Natural Experiment: Comparing the Long Run Consequences of 1990s Electoral Reform in Italy and Japan.- Part III Economics.- 11 The Italian Economy 1961-2010: From Economic "Miracle" to Decline.- 12 Ageing, Debt, and Growth Crises: Two Forerunners.- 13 Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Italy and Japan.- Part IV International Relations.- 14 Japan’s Search for a New Identity: Japan’s Domestic Politics and Its Foreign Policy after the Cold War.- 15 Domestic Constraints, Governmental Instability and Italian Foreign Policy.- 16 Italy and Japan: The Price of Defeat in Post WWII International Relations.- 17 The Admissions of Italy and Japan to the United Nations: History and Diplomacy.- 18 Hosts and Hostilities: Base Politics in Italy and Japan.- 19 Italy and Japan as Security Actors: Still Free Riding on the US?.