Geography Reference
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in which they feel they can contribute to others, be it by becoming nurses,
teachers, working for non-governmental organisations (NGOs), or environmental
lawyers.
While their support for Komeito is likely to continue to be portrayed as
controversial, or dismissed as non-political support for a religious party, on
closer scrutiny supporters
philosophical ideals and way of being point
towards an attempt to transcend interest-based politics. Political canvassing
for Komeito is a process through which young people are able to participate
in trying to shape dominant discourses that a
'
s life-worlds. Religion
here works to infuse these life-worlds with a moral-practical rationalisation
(Casanova 1994: 233). Ordinary life-worlds are generally perceived as being
removed from politics in Japan, as elsewhere. Believing in the possibility of
bringing ethics and nobility into politics could be interpreted as overly opti-
mistic, and it certainly creates a number of dilemmas for those involved when
rhetoric appears to be wearing thin, but the imagination about being part of a
worthy cause creates enthusiasm and a sense of purpose to somehow try to
achieve their objectives anyway. Perhaps this voice of hope, being able to
imagine di
ect people
'
cant aspect, something that
stands out against the general political sentiment that nothing matters or
changes anyway.
As discussed above, the e
erent possibilities, is the most signi
ect of Komeito as a party is one of moderation
and humanitarianism in Japanese politics. For young people who canvass for
Komeito, it is an engagement with the perennial dilemma of how to reconcile
competing interests prevalent in modern societies with the ideal of the
'
civic
republic
'
(Dahl 1982). In this sense, understanding and discussing
'
the factor
of purposiveness
'
emerges as
'
analytically crucial to the concept of political
action
'
(Swartz et al. 2002: 108). Evans and Boyte (2003: 263) argue that,
'
when people begin to see in themselves the capacity to end their own hurts,
to take control of their own lives, they gain the capacity to tap the democratic
resources in their heritage
. Hann and Dunn (1996: 3) also have described
civil society as essential for the prospects for a prosperous world order in the
twenty-
'
leads us to a renewed awareness of the fusion
of the moral, the social and the political in the constitution of all human
communities
rst century because it
'
. These are certainly normative ideals, but they do go some of
the way to describe for what young people in this study are striving. Contrary
to wider assumptions, I am tempted to say that the (Western) democratic
ideal of citizenship is fostered within a religious practice that is focused more
on a sense of responsibility and hope, which means possibility, than on the
liberal idea of
'
. I have explored here what makes people
enthusiastic about political participation, and how it has been possible to
develop this now long-term commitment of a religious organisation to sup-
port a political party that debates the nature of the larger public good in a
non-sectarian manner.
Interpreting the socialising forces of religion as the cause for something
normatively
'
choice
'
and
'
freedom
'
'
improper
'
in the political domain and public discourse, the
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