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"Mr. Madison in the Twenty-first Century: Global Diffusion of the People's 'Right to Know'" (pp. 245 - 261) The term "soft power" describes a country's ability to get what it wants by attracting rather than coercing others - by engaging hearts and minds through cultural and political values and foreign policies that other countries see as legitimate and conducive to their own interests. This book analyzes the soft power assets of the United States and Japan, and how they contributed to one of the most successful, if unlikely, bilateral relationships of the twentieth century. Sponsored by the U.S. Social Science Research Council and the Japan Foundation's Center for Global Partnership, the book brings together anthropologists, political scientists, historians, economists, diplomats, and others to explore the multiple axes of soft power that operate in the U.S.-Japanese relationship, and between the United States and Japan and other regions of the world. The contributors move beyond an "either-or" concept of hard versus soft power to a more dynamic interpretation, and demonstrate the important role of non-state actors in wielding soft power. They show how public diplomacy on both sides of the Pacific - bolstered by less formal influences such as popular cultural icons, product brands, martial arts, baseball, and educational exchanges - has led to a vibrant U.S.-Japanese relationship since World War II despite formidable challenges. Emphasizing the essentially interactive nature of persuasion, the book highlights an approach to soft power that has many implications for the world today.

Will unbridled presidential power prevail, or American democracy? This is a record of the lawyers and journalists who use laws such as the Freedom of Information Act to fight against the secrecy of the Bush administration and maintain an open government. * A coffin wrapped in the flag / Ralph Begleiter * Exposing the "profiteering of war" / Daniel Polity * Torture at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo / Amrit Singh * The deep ties between the Bush administration and the oil industry / Sharon Buccino * A pioneering public defender takes on Cheney's secrecy / Alan Morrison * Uncovering the true damage of the Alaska oil spill / Richard Steiner * The mountaintops erased by the coal industry / Ken Ward Jr. * Stopping Attorney General Ashcroft's secret arrests / Kate Martin * Condemning the secret investigations under the Patriot Act / Jameel Jaafa * Computers, privacy and the US Constitution / David Sobel * Protecting a former FBI whistleblower / Mark Zaid * Exposing the FBI's spying on civil society / Ben Weisner * Nixon and Bush: The battle for the presidential papers / Scott Nelson * Forcing the FBI to Apologize for Illegal Plots by Seth Rosenfeld * Is There a Future for Democracy by Steven Aftergood

A young American comes to Japan to learn about the regulations of the Japanese stock market. He attends a court hearing on a case involving collusion between politicians and stockbrokers to manipulate stock prices, and as he takes notes on the proceedings he faces a thick wall of a ban on taking notes. The men's fight for the freedom to take notes in court has begun!