State, Society, and Covid-19 in East Asia

This book elucidates state-society relations in East Asia during the COVID-19 pandemic from a comparative perspective.

Based on the findings of cross-national surveys in Japan, South Korea, and China, the book scrutinizes the dynamics of the state-society relationships in each country, examining trends of change in this relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic. Citizens’ attitudes toward individual freedom, the state’s anti-pandemic policies, vaccine hesitancy, and income redistribution policies across the three countries are compared revealing how public opinion in Japan, South Korea, and China during the COVID-19 pandemic provides a basis for understanding the complex relationship between state and society in East Asia.

Transcending national boundaries and uncovering citizens’ evaluations of their domestic and neighboring countries’ pandemic responses in East Asia, this book will be an indispensable resource for anyone interested in East Asian society and politics.

Taisuke Fujita is Associate Professor at Nagasaki University, Japan.

Hidehiro Yamamoto is Professor in the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Tsukuba, Japan.

Youngho Cho is a Professor in Political Science at Sogang University in Seoul, South Korea.

Sang-Jin Han is Professor Emeritus at Seoul National University, South Korea.

Yida Zhai is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Tsukuba, Japan.