scholarly journals Looking at the Stability and Transformation of the Japanese Postwar Party System

1998 ◽  
Vol 13 (0) ◽  
pp. 27-49
Author(s):  
Jong-Won Lee
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Party Systems ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Party Dominance ◽  
Near Future

The Japanese political system of 1946-1996 has often been defined by the continuous rule for four decades of the conservative Liberal Democratic party (LDP), which had held a majority of seats in the Diet between its formation in 1955 until it lost its majority in the Upper House (House of Councilors) in 1989. Under the Japanese political milieus, the LDP has been in a position of semi-permanent governance since 1955 except for a few years in the mid-1990s. The first questionable issue, here, is how the LDP had maintained its dominant position during that period and how one-party dominance system had sustained? How had electoral volatility affected the party system change? Can we expect a dramatic change in Japanese politics in near future? In relation to these questions, how can we apply the theories of comparative parties and party systems to 1946-1996 history of Japanese party politics.

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.

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.

Japanese Politics in Transition: A Theoretical Review

1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 443-455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Inoguchi
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Type System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Electoral System ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Income Tax Law ◽  
Anglo American ◽  
Party Dominance

THE END OF ONE-PARTY DOMINANCE BY THE LIBERAL Democratic Party of Japan came as abruptly as the fall of the Berlin wall four years before. It started with the debate on electoral system change, ostensibly as an attempt to curb corruption. The LDP has been plagued by a series of large-scale corruption scandals since the Recruit scandal of 1989. The latest concerned former vice-president Shin Kanemaru's alleged violation of the political money regulation law and the income tax law in 1992–93. The Prime Minister, Kiichi Miyazawa, accepting a fair degree of compromise with opposition parties, wanted to pass a bill to change the current electoral system. The LDP initially wanted to change from the system of choosing a few persons in each district by one vote to the Anglo-American type system of selecting one person in each district by one vote. The opposition wanted to change to the continental European system of proportional representation. A compromise was made by the LDP's proposal to combine the latter two systems. Then two dissenting groups emerged suddenly in the LDP. One took the exit option by forming new political parties. The other took the voice option by backing away from the Miyazawa compromise plan. Miyazawa was humiliated by his failure to have the bill enacted and a motion of no confidence was passed. He then called for a general election, which took place on 18 July 1993. The outcome did not give a majority to the LDP and subsequently a non-LDP coalition was formed to produce a non-LDP government for the first time since the foundation of the LDP in 1955

Evaluating Political Reform in Japan: A Midterm Report

2002 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 243-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven R. Reed
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Political Reform ◽  
Coalition Government ◽  
Preliminary Evaluation ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Cost ◽  
First Time

In the 1993 general election the Liberal Democratic Party lost power for the first time since it was founded in 1955. The coalition government that followed enacted the most far-reaching political reforms Japan has experienced since the American Occupation. The country has now experienced two elections since these reforms so we can begin to analyze trends and dynamics. It is now possible to make a preliminary evaluation of the effects of these reforms. I evaluate the reforms under three headings: (1) reducing the cost of elections and levels of corruption; (2) replacing candidate-centered with party-centered campaigns; and (3) moving toward a two-party system which would produce alternation in power between the parties of the government and the parties of the opposition. In conclude that, with some notable exceptions, the reforms are working well, about as well as should have been expected.

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.

Abe's election win opens way to revise Constitution

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
The Us ◽  
Near Future ◽  
First Time ◽  
Stimulus Package

Significance The governing coalition led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) made gains, with the LDP itself now controlling exactly half the seats in the chamber. Parties in favour of revising Japan's Constitution captured the two-thirds supermajority necessary to call a referendum on the question for the first time ever. Impacts An economic stimulus package is likely soon. Parliamentary opposition to relocation of the US Futenma airbase has strengthened -- a setback for Japan-US relations. New foreign policy initiatives are likely in the near future. Cooperation among opposition parties paid off, and may become more common in future.

scholarly journals Removing Boundaries, Losing Connections: Electoral Consequences of Local Government Reform in Japan

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusaku Horiuchi ◽  
Jun Saito ◽  
Kyohei Yamada
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
National Level ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Local Politicians ◽  
History Of ◽  
Electoral Mobilization

In this article we examine the role of local politicians in affecting national-level election outcomes by focusing on the drastic municipal mergers in Japan that took place in the early 2000s. Specifically, we argue that the political party that relies most extensively on local politicians' efforts for electoral mobilization and monitoring will suffer an electoral slump when municipalities are merged and the number of municipal politicians is swiftly reduced. We empirically show that municipalities with a history of mergers exhibit significantly lower voter turnout and obtain a smaller vote share for the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in national elections when compared to other municipalities without an experience of mergers. This result indicates that municipal politicians are indispensable human resources for LDP candidates running for the national parliament.

The Legislative Record: The Japan National Diet in 2004

2004 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-330
Author(s):  
JUNKO HIROSE
Keyword(s):  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Conservative Party ◽  
General Election ◽  
Major Party ◽  
Japanese Politics ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
House Election

The general election in November 2003 and the Upper House election in July 2004 indicate that the Japanese politics is going from a one party dominant toward a two major party system. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) narrowly keeps a majority in both Houses by merging the New Conservative Party and by forming a coalition with New Komeito.

scholarly journals Finansowanie działań politycznych w Japonii – zarys regulacji i praktyki ustrojowej

2013 ◽  
pp. 161-178
Author(s):  
Jan Misiuna
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
Democratic Party ◽  
Party System ◽  
Liberal Democratic Party ◽  
Economic Policies ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
Political Finance ◽  
Election System ◽  
Dysfunctional Relationships

This paper deals with the reality of political finance in Japan. In the text I describe how the election system influenced the process of creation of party system, especially segmentation of the Liberal-Democratic Party into factions. Consequences of this system include expensive election campaigns which in turn lead to close relationships between political parties and individual politicians and large, particularly corporate, donors. In effect the costs of election campaigns continue to increase and political parties, perpetually in need of money, constantly search for new donors. In this context it is not surprising that in Japan corruption is important problem. What is also important, however, is the fact that dysfunctional relationships between large, corporate donors and political parties were and are fundamental factors influencing economic policies of successive governments.

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