Democracy behind barbed wire: Examining the political culture of Japanese American Evacuees

This paper explores the relationship between culture and political behavior through an investigation of those Japanese Americans who were denied due process and imprisoned during World War Two simply for being of Japanese descent. Military necessity was the reason cited for the government\u27s action, although racism, war hysteria and economic competition also played a major role. At the time there was a general belief among Caucasian Americans that the Japanese in America had avoided Americanization and could not be trusted to participate in democratic processes. It was suggested that their political and civic culture was an obstacle to the achievement of democratic aspirations. Using an approach similar to that pioneered by Almond and Verba in their 1963 study of five nations, this research explores the political and civic culture of the Japanese American Evacuees and argues that the skills required for meaningful participation in political and civic networks were present in the Japanese Americans, but went unrecognized. The study concludes by finding no substantiation of the claim that the Japanese in America were then, or are now either un-Americanized or politically incompetent in a democracy