Editing Democratization (section)

=== Japan ===
In [[Japan]], limited democratic reforms were introduced during the [[Meiji (era)|Meiji]] period (when the industrial modernization of Japan began), the [[Taishō]] period (1912–1926), and the early [[Shōwa (1926–1989)|Shōwa]] period.<ref name="Calder">Kent E. Calder, "East Asian Democratic Transitions" in ''The Making and Unmaking of Democracy: Lessons from History and World Politics'' (eds. Theodore K. Rabb & Ezra N. Suleiman: Routledge, 2003). pp. 251–59.</ref> Despite pro-democracy movements such as the [[Freedom and People's Rights Movement]] (1870s and 1880s) and some proto-democratic institutions, Japanese society remained constrained by a highly conservative society and bureaucracy.<ref name="Calder" /> Historian [[Kent E. Calder]] notes that writers that "Meiji leadership embraced constitutional government with some pluralist features for essentially tactical reasons" and that pre-World war II Japanese society was dominated by a "loose coalition" of "landed rural elites, big business, and the military" that was averse to pluralism and reformism.<ref name="Calder" /> While the [[National Diet#History|Imperial Diet]] survived the impacts of [[Japanese militarism]], the [[Great Depression]], and the [[Pacific War]], other pluralistic institutions, such as [[Political parties of the Empire of Japan|political parties]], did not. After World War II, during the [[Occupation of Japan|Allied occupation]], Japan adopted a much more vigorous, pluralistic democracy.<ref name="Calder" />

[[File:Elecciones 1888 valpo.png|thumb|upright=1.5| Voting in Valparaíso, Chile, in 1888]]