scholarly journals The Decline and Fall of the LDP in Japan

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-58
Author(s):  
Hrannar Baldvinsson
Keyword(s):  
Communist Party ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The Past ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Opposition Parties

This article explores the reason why the LDP has stayed so long in power and why it ultimately fell out. It begins by giving an overview of the political situation in Japan in the past decades. It then proceeds to explain the main theories on why the LDP stayed so long in power and maintains that the main contributing factor has been a weak opposition. Finally it discusses how the new party has distinguished itself from former opposition parties and how and why the LDP had failed to meet that challenge. Keywords: Liberal Democratic Party, Democratic Party of Japan, Elections, New Komeito, Japan Communist Party, Japan socialist Party, Junichiro Koizumi, Shinzo Abe, Taro Aso.

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.

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.

Ending the LDP Hegemony: Party Cooperation in Japan. By Ray Christensen. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 2000. 228p. $52.00 cloth, $27.95 paper.

2001 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 231-232
Author(s):  
Kenji Hayao
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Japanese Politics ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
2000 Election

The Japanese party system has been in flux in recent years. In 1993, two groups defected from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and joined with the opposition to form a broadly based coalition government. A year later, the LDP regained power by creating a coalition government with its ideological opponent, the Japan Socialist Party (JSP). Both events shocked virtually everyone at the time. The LDP had been in power for so long-almost 40 years-that it seemed almost inconceivable that it could lose power. For just as long, the JSP had been the main opposition. By the 2000 election, a dozen parties had come and gone, the JSP's strength dropped to a very small fraction of what it was a decade earlier, and the LDP had to turn to various coalition partners to maintain its control of government. All this is quite puzzling to even close watchers of Japanese politics, because party politics, especially the role of opposition parties, has been a relatively understudied area. For those who want to make sense of how these events came to pass, Ray Christensen's Ending the LDP Hegemony will be very helpful.

Japan in 2004: ““Courageous”” Koizumi Carries On

Asian Survey ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 41-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nobuhiro Hiwatari
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Vested Interests ◽  
True Colors ◽  
Opposition Parties

Betraying all expectations, Japanese political developments in 2004 show Prime Minister Koizumi's true colors as a reformist leader, willing to use his popularity and an empowered cabinet against the entrenched vested interests of the Liberal Democratic Party while compelling the opposition parties either to converge to his position or become marginalized.

The Cartel Party and Populist Opposition

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard S. Katz ◽  
Peter Mair
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Regulatory State ◽  
Party Government ◽  
Consensus Democracy ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Policy Failures ◽  
Recent Policy

Cartelization has given rise to opposition in the form of anti-party-system or populist parties. While this possibility was clear as early as the 1990s, in the last decade the growth of these parties has led to alarm in some quarters about the continued viability of liberal democratic party government. In contrast to accounts that attribute this rise to the recent policy failures of the political mainstream, this chapter suggests that its roots lie in internal contradictions in the expectations that the parties have raised in the process of cartelization. Rather than being solutions to these problems, models of “the regulatory state” or “consensus democracy” are strikingly similar to democracy under the cartel party model.

Politics in a Fallen Empire: Kishi Nobusuke and the Making of the Conservative Hegemony in Japan

2020 ◽  
pp. 161-184
Author(s):  
Andrew Levidis
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political History ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Political Stability ◽  
The Political ◽  
Mass Mobilization ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
Political Upheaval ◽  
Political Divide

The creation of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in November 1955 remains one of the most significant moments in modern Japanese political history. The political stability inaugurated in 1955, followed by more than seventy years of unbroken conservative government, have inured us to the striking persistence and durability of conservative ideas, institutions, and men across the political divide of 1945. This chapter examines Kishi Nobusuke’s role in the reconstruction of political order in 1955 and the vehicle of conservative hegemony – the Liberal Democratic party. In so doing it recasts the so-called 1955 system in the longue durée of Japanese political history. As post-imperial elites sought to restore familiar forms of government, their efforts intertwined with the memory of political upheaval between world wars. Layered into conservative efforts to reconceptualize their politics and organize postwar society in the 1950s were the ingrained traditions of 1930s and 1940s– anti-communism, national cohesion, mass mobilization, national harmony - which proved surprisingly translatable to notions of democracy, modernization, and Cold War state-building.

Martens IV - Eyskens I - Martens V

Res Publica ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 273-304
Author(s):  
Marc Platel
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Socialist Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
State Reform ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Political Unrest ◽  
French Speaking ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Christian Democratic Party ◽  
Democratic Parties

It is striking to note that the political unrest and instability in 1981 coincided with continual and serious unrest on the national money market. On the political party level, one notes that the Christian Democratic Parties and the Socialist Parties had more and more difficulties in getting along with each other. This probably is related to the policyof the new chairman of the French-speaking Socialist Party, who has resolutely chosen to back Wallonia. The Flemish Christian Democratic Party, has still difficulties in seeing itself as the largest party in Flanders and to act appropriately. In addition, the French-speaking Socialist Party feels confident in the conviction that influential circles, including the Court, prefer not to see the Socialists in the opposition. This has motivated some to cling as long as possible to the formation of a three -party cabinet. The actual political situation, however, has clearly demonstrated that such a three-party cabine! cannot fu nction for a long time. The question remains why the Christian Democratic Party has not pursued elections with the same energy as it did in September af ter the resignationof the Martens IV government.  In the meantime, it has become evident that the state reform of August 1980 is certainly not «completed», that is should best be redone, andthat the consequences of this reorganization can be gauged only with difficulty.

Back to the Past: Analysis of the Amendments Regarding Emperor and the National Symbols in the LDP 2012 Constitutional Draft

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 176-195
Author(s):  
MACIEJ PLETNIA
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Pacific War ◽  
The Past ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
National Symbols ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
National Flag ◽  
Historical Past ◽  
Ruling Party

AbstractSince the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan's (LDP) return to power in late 2012, there has been on-going discussions regarding the possibility of revising the Japanese constitution. Prime Minister Shinzō Abe has made numerous remarks regarding his intention to implement significant changes. Understandably, amendments to the controversial Article 9 as well as to the Article 96 have become the main points of interests for both journalists and scholars. Judging by the LDP's constitutional draft from 2012 there are other significant changes that the ruling party would like to implement. This article mainly analyses the proposed amendments regarding the position and significance of the emperor, national flag, and anthem, as well as separation of the state and religion. Based on textual analysis of the draft and analysis of the remarks made by Abe Shinzō regarding changing the constitution, this paper argues that, if implemented, the proposed changes would symbolically link contemporary Japan with its pre-1945 past. Furthermore, both the LDP's constitutional draft and leading politicians’ comments regarding the necessity of those amendments fit into a much broader narrative regarding Japan's historical past, and signify another attempt to reconstruct collective memory of both the Pacific War and occupation years.

The Political Identity of the Japanese: A Hybrid of Religious and Secular

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 79-85
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Chugrov
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Soka Gakkai ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
High Level ◽  
High Degree

The article analyzes the specifics of Japanese religious syncretism, which managed to adapt with great efficiency the norms of the Buddhist-Confucian complex and the autochthonous religion of Shinto. Japan is a vivid example of the harmonization of national identity, based not only on the high level of homogeneity of society, but also on the high degree of tolerance and ability to adapt and to adopt. In the political sphere, the Japanese post-secular system demonstrates the capacities of the Komeito party (Party of Pure Politics), which was created on the basis of Soka Gakkai Buddhist organization, which professes the humanistic ideas of Nichiren (1222–1282), set forth in the Lotus Sutra. Now the Komeito party plays an important role in shaping Japanese politics, coalescing with the dominant Liberal Democratic Party. The Komeito party, in particular, is effectively advocating the preservation of the 9th ‘pacific’ article of the constitution. The movement of laic Buddhists Soka Gakkai International (SGI), operating in 93 countries around the world, is widely known for cultural and educational activities and its struggle to ban nuclear weapons. Thus, Japan provides a pointed example of the combination of humanistic philosophy of human dignity and empowerment with political activity, which determines the nature of Japanese post-secular society.

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