Conclusion

2018 ◽  
pp. 258-272
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Institutional Design ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Dynastic Politics

This chapter concludes the book by drawing together the key empirical findings and reflecting on the lessons that Japan’s experience with dynastic politics might hold for other democracies, such as India and the Philippines, where dynasties have been viewed as a growing problem in recent years, and Ireland, where politics is still in many ways a family affair. The key challenge is how to transform party organizations from decentralized cadres of local notables into coherent vehicles for programmatic policies. The experience of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, viewed through the lens of dynastic politics, sheds important light on the possibilities and challenges involved in institutional design and reform.

Selection

2018 ◽  
pp. 115-178
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
National Level ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Demand Side ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Dynastic Politics

This chapter examines dynastic candidate selection in Japan under the single nontransferable vote (SNTV) electoral system and the changes that have occurred since the adoption of a mixed-member majoritarian (MMM) system, which combines first-past-the-post and closed-list proportional representation. Dynasties under SNTV were more common in larger, decentralized parties—especially the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The MMM system shifted the focus of elections from candidates to parties. Subsequent party reforms within the LDP have expanded the pool of candidates and placed greater control over nominations with national-level party leaders, who have selected a more diverse range of candidates. Legacy candidates are still nominated, but recently, only the most powerful and longest-serving incumbents are likely to be succeeded in politics by a family member. This suggests that demand-side incentives have changed, leaving mainly supply-side incentives to explain the continued persistence of dynastic politics.

Dynasties and Democracy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Candidate Selection ◽  
System Reform ◽  
Incumbency Advantage ◽  
Career Selection ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Dynastic Politics ◽  
Comparative Theory

Democracy is supposed to be the antithesis of hereditary rule by family dynasties. And yet “democratic dynasties” continue to persist in democracies around the world. They have been conspicuously prevalent in Japan, where more than a third of all legislators and two-thirds of all cabinet ministers in recent years have come from families with a history in parliament. Such a high proportion of dynasties is unusual and has sparked concerns over whether democracy in Japan is functioning properly. This book introduces a comparative theory to explain the causes and consequences of dynasties in democracies like Japan. Members of dynasties enjoy an “inherited incumbency advantage” in all three stages of a typical political career: selection, election, and promotion. However, the nature and extent of this advantage, as well as its consequences for elections and representation, varies by the institutional context of electoral rules and candidate selection methods within parties. In the late 1980s, roughly half of all new candidates in Japan’s long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party were political legacies. However, electoral system reform in 1994 and subsequent party reforms have changed the incentives for party leaders to rely on dynastic politics in candidate selection. A new pattern of party-based competition is slowly replacing the old pattern of competition based on localized family fiefdoms.

Testing the Causal Mechanisms in Additional Cases

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul D. Kenny
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
System Stability ◽  
Relative Autonomy ◽  
Causal Mechanisms ◽  
Liberal Democratic

Case studies of Indonesia and Japan illustrate that party-system stability in patronage democracies is deeply affected by the relative autonomy of political brokers. Over the course of a decade, a series of decentralizing reforms in Indonesia weakened patronage-based parties hold on power, with the 2014 election ultimately being a contest between two rival populists: Joko Widodo and Subianto Prabowo. Although Japan was a patronage democracy throughout the twentieth century, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) remained robust to outsider appeals even in the context of economic and corruption crises. However, reforms in the 1990s weakened the hold of central factional leaders over individual members of the LDP and their patronage machines. This was instrumental to populist Junichiro Koizumi’s winning of the presidency of the LDP and ultimately the prime ministership of Japan. This chapter also reexamines canonical cases of populism in Latin America.

Japan's Post-Fukushima Energy Politics

2015 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. 109-116
Author(s):  
Tai Wei LIM
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Nuclear Reactor ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Nuclear Reactors ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Arena ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Energy Politics ◽  
Gubernatorial Election

A 2011 earthquake damaged the Fukushima nuclear reactor and provided a galvanising point for anti-nuclear resistance groups in Japan. Their public cause slowly faded from the political arena after the Democratic Party of Japan fell out of power and anti-nuclear politicians lost the 2014 Tokyo gubernatorial election. The current Liberal Democratic Party Prime Minister Abe holds a pro-nuclear position and urges the reactivation of Japan's nuclear reactors after all safeguards have been satisfied.

Executive Turnovers in 2000

2000 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 329-331
Author(s):  
Masaru Kohno ◽  
Atsuko Suga
Keyword(s):  
International Trade ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
Economic Planning ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Education Science

On April 5 2000, the Diet elected Yoshiro Mori as Japan's 55th prime minister. His predecessor, Keizo Obuchi, had suffered a stroke and became unable to carry out his official responsibility. Mori, who was the former Secretary General of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), inherited the three party coalition between the LDP, the new Komei Party and the Conservative Party, and reappointed all of Obuchi's cabinet members. Yohei Kono was reposted as the Minister of Foreign Affairs; Hideo Usui as Justice; Kiichi Miyazawa as Finance; Hirofumi Nakasone as Education, Science and Technology; Yuya Niwa as Health and Welfare; Tokuichiro Tanazawa as Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Takeshi Fukaya as International Trade and Industry; Toshihiro Nikai as Transport; Eita Yashiro as Posts and Telecommunications; Takamori Makino as Labor; Masaaki Nakayama as Construction; Kosuke Hori as Home Affairs, Mikio Aoki as Chief Cabinet Secretary; Kunihiro Tsuzuki as Management and Coordination; Tsutomu Kawara as Defense; Taichi Sakaiya as Economic Planning; Kayoko Shimizu as environment; and Sadakazu Tanigaki as Financial Reconstruction.

The New Generation of Conservative Politicians in Japan

2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
JAMES BABB
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Organizational Structures ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Internal Management ◽  
New Generation

AbstractThis study examines the extent to which there has been a rise in ideologically based politics in Japan due to the decline in factionalism in the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The study is based on two cases studies. The first is based on the notion of ‘Koizumi's children’ recruited by former Prime Minister Koizumi and his allies, who were heavily discouraged from joining a faction. The second model is based on an analysis of a junior MP groups which have played a role in the internal management of the LDP independent of established party organizational structures.

Radioactive Rain and the American Umbrella

2012 ◽  
Vol 71 (2) ◽  
pp. 319-331 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshimi Shun'ya ◽  
Shi-Lin Loh
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Rapid Succession ◽  
Nuclear Disaster ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Aum Shinrikyo ◽  
Bubble Economy

With the earthquake of March 11, 2011, and the expanding nuclear disaster that followed, our “affluent postwar” has finally reached a decisive end. Indeed, this closure had been clearly augured since the 1990s. The collapse of the bubble economy, the close of an era of single-party rule by the Liberal Democratic Party, and the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake and Aum Shinrikyō sarin gas attacks that came in rapid succession in 1995—these events forced upon us the reality that the “affluent postwar” was over.

scholarly journals “Niepodległość” Liberal Democratic Party

Sowiniec ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (46) ◽  
pp. 53-67
Author(s):  
Marcin Kluzik
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Round Table ◽  
Communist Regime ◽  
Economic Liberalism ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Independent Country

The Liberal Democratic party “Niepodległość”/“Independence” was a radically anti-communist party and its aim was to overthrow the communist regime and make Poland an independent country, for the party had no doubt that other elements of its agenda could be realised only after Poland achieved independence. Its uncompromising anti-communist stance made the party reject the agreements made at the Round Table. The LDPN advocated political and economic liberalism, combining it with an attachment to a conservative and Christian canon of values.

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