Ending the LDP Hegemony

Ending the LDP Hegemony PDF Author: Ray Christensen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824862376
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Get Book

Book Description
From its founding in 1955 and for the next thirty-eight years, Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won all but one national election and selected every prime minister and nearly every cabinet member. Other democracies have had similarly dominant parties, but none approaches the LDP for longevity in power and complete dominance of the political scene. Then, in 1993 a political earthquake transformed Japan from a country of unchanging one-party rule into a nation of ever-changing and free-flowing political coalitions. For the rest of the decade the LDP struggled to regain its position of dominance and for the most part succeeded. At the end of the millennium the LDP lacked a majority in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Japanese Diet, but it was nevertheless strong and confident once again while the opposition was in disarray. The LDP's loss of control in 1993, however brief, made obsolete much of what had been written on Japanese politics. Ending the LDP Hegemony answers the need for an up-to-date analysis of the political scene, providing both the information and framework needed to unravel the tangle of coalition politics in the 1990s and anticipate the composition and policies of future Japanese governments. It is the first study in English to focus on and put into historical context interparty relations in Japan. Western scholars and media heretofore have focused either on the LDP's successes or the peculiarities of the individual opposition parties, ignoring interparty relations that are well known to the Japanese. Ray Christensen offers here a new perspective on the interaction among members of the Democratic, New Frontier, Japan Socialist, Japan Communist, Democratic Socialist, and Clean Government parties, as well as on their general political orientation and tactics. He challenges the assumption that the LDP's accomplishments can be attributed to its being the most efficient, capable, and intelligent party, and describes in detail the strategies of the opponents, demonstrating the political savvy of their leaders. His analysis of key data on cooperation and elections reveals that opposition parties actually outperformed the LDP. This study not only fills a gap in our understanding of modern Japanese politics, it is also adds a critical non-European perspective to analyses of opposition politics and social democracy. It argues that the Japanese experience requires a modification of analytical frameworks, which are based almost exclusively on Western European examples, and questions those who support a more authoritarian, "Asian" model of democracy by revealing the vibrancy of the opposition in Japan and the technical reasons for the LDP's success. Ending the LDP Hegemony amply demonstrates that democracy, indeed Western-style democracy, can take root and flourish in the fertile soil of East Asia and offers the experience of Japan's opposition parties as crucial evidence of Japanese democracy. It will be essential reading for all those interested in the functioning of democracy in Asia and other non-Western settings.

Ending the LDP Hegemony

Ending the LDP Hegemony PDF Author: Ray Christensen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 0824862376
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Get Book

Book Description
From its founding in 1955 and for the next thirty-eight years, Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won all but one national election and selected every prime minister and nearly every cabinet member. Other democracies have had similarly dominant parties, but none approaches the LDP for longevity in power and complete dominance of the political scene. Then, in 1993 a political earthquake transformed Japan from a country of unchanging one-party rule into a nation of ever-changing and free-flowing political coalitions. For the rest of the decade the LDP struggled to regain its position of dominance and for the most part succeeded. At the end of the millennium the LDP lacked a majority in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Japanese Diet, but it was nevertheless strong and confident once again while the opposition was in disarray. The LDP's loss of control in 1993, however brief, made obsolete much of what had been written on Japanese politics. Ending the LDP Hegemony answers the need for an up-to-date analysis of the political scene, providing both the information and framework needed to unravel the tangle of coalition politics in the 1990s and anticipate the composition and policies of future Japanese governments. It is the first study in English to focus on and put into historical context interparty relations in Japan. Western scholars and media heretofore have focused either on the LDP's successes or the peculiarities of the individual opposition parties, ignoring interparty relations that are well known to the Japanese. Ray Christensen offers here a new perspective on the interaction among members of the Democratic, New Frontier, Japan Socialist, Japan Communist, Democratic Socialist, and Clean Government parties, as well as on their general political orientation and tactics. He challenges the assumption that the LDP's accomplishments can be attributed to its being the most efficient, capable, and intelligent party, and describes in detail the strategies of the opponents, demonstrating the political savvy of their leaders. His analysis of key data on cooperation and elections reveals that opposition parties actually outperformed the LDP. This study not only fills a gap in our understanding of modern Japanese politics, it is also adds a critical non-European perspective to analyses of opposition politics and social democracy. It argues that the Japanese experience requires a modification of analytical frameworks, which are based almost exclusively on Western European examples, and questions those who support a more authoritarian, "Asian" model of democracy by revealing the vibrancy of the opposition in Japan and the technical reasons for the LDP's success. Ending the LDP Hegemony amply demonstrates that democracy, indeed Western-style democracy, can take root and flourish in the fertile soil of East Asia and offers the experience of Japan's opposition parties as crucial evidence of Japanese democracy. It will be essential reading for all those interested in the functioning of democracy in Asia and other non-Western settings.

Ending the LDP Hegemony

Ending the LDP Hegemony PDF Author: Ray Christensen
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
ISBN: 9780824822958
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Get Book

Book Description
From its founding in 1955 and for the next thirty-eight years, Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won all but one national election and selected every prime minister and nearly every cabinet member. Other democracies have had similarly dominant parties, but none approaches the LDP for longevity in power and complete dominance of the political scene. Then, in 1993 a political earthquake transformed Japan from a country of unchanging one-party rule into a nation of ever-changing and free-flowing political coalitions. For the rest of the decade the LDP struggled to regain its position of dominance and for the most part succeeded. At the end of the millennium the LDP lacked a majority in the House of Councillors, the upper house of the Japanese Diet, but it was nevertheless strong and confident once again while the opposition was in disarray. The LDP's loss of control in 1993, however brief, made obsolete much of what had been written on Japanese politics. Ending the LDP Hegemony answers the need for an up-to-date analysis of the political scene, providing both the information and framework needed to unravel the tangle of coalition politics in the 1990s and anticipate the composition and policies of future Japanese governments. It is the first study in English to focus on and put into historical context interparty relations in Japan. Western scholars and media heretofore have focused either on the LDP's successes or the peculiarities of the individual opposition parties, ignoring interparty relations that are well known to the Japanese. Ray Christensen offers here a new perspective on the interaction among members of the Democratic, New Frontier, Japan Socialist, Japan Communist, Democratic Socialist, and Clean Government parties, as well as on their general political orientation and tactics. He challenges the assumption that the LDP's accomplishments can be attributed to its being the most efficient, capable, and intelligent party, and describes in detail the strategies of the opponents, demonstrating the political savvy of their leaders. His analysis of key data on cooperation and elections reveals that opposition parties actually outperformed the LDP. This study not only fills a gap in our understanding of modern Japanese politics, it is also adds a critical non-European perspective to analyses of opposition politics and social democracy. It argues that the Japanese experience requires a modification of analytical frameworks, which are based almost exclusively on Western European examples, and questions those who support a more authoritarian, "Asian" model of democracy by revealing the vibrancy of the opposition in Japan and the technical reasons for the LDP's success. Ending the LDP Hegemony amply demonstrates that democracy, indeed Western-style democracy, can take root and flourish in the fertile soil of East Asia and offers the experience of Japan's opposition parties as crucial evidence of Japanese democracy. It will be essential reading for all those interested in the functioning of democracy in Asia and other non-Western settings.

The Changing Japanese Political System

The Changing Japanese Political System PDF Author: Harumi Hori
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134193173
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 209

Get Book

Book Description
Japan’s political stability was shattered after the general election of July 1993 when the conservative Liberal Democratic Party’s thirty-eight year domination ended in defeat. This book examines the impact the 1993 general election had on Japanese politics. Although the LDP regained the position of a ruling party within a year, Hori questions whether the Japanese political system has managed to maintain the same efficacy as it had prior to 1993. Using institutional analysis Hori argues that this fundamental change caused major institutional transformations; a decline in the importance of LDP organisations in the decision-making process of the government and the Diet, weakened management of the LDP through factions, and detached attitudes of LDP members to MOF bureaucrats. Hori analyzes three cases, one prior to and two after the 1993 election, illustrating just how ineffective the close cooperation between MOF bureaucrats, LDP executives and faction leaders became.

The Foreign Policy of Modern Japan

The Foreign Policy of Modern Japan PDF Author: Robert A. Scalapino
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520314670
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 446

Get Book

Book Description
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1977.

Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan

Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan PDF Author: Robert Pekkanen
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004380558
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 556

Get Book

Book Description
The Brill Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan collects seminal scholarship on the LDP including its structure and organization (e.g. factions, koenkai), historical development, policy-making, and leadership by Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe.

The End of Diversity?

The End of Diversity? PDF Author: Kozo Yamamura
Publisher: Cornell University Press
ISBN: 150171144X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 425

Get Book

Book Description
After the devastation of World War II, Germany and Japan built national capitalist institutions that were remarkably successful in terms of national reconstruction and international competitiveness. Yet both "miracles" have since faltered, allowing U.S. capital and its institutional forms to establish global dominance. National varieties of capitalism are now under intense pressure to converge to the U.S. model. Kozo Yamamura and Wolfgang Streeck have gathered an international group of authors to examine the likelihood of convergence—to determine whether the global forces of Anglo-American capitalism will give rise to a single, homogeneous capitalist system. The chapters in this volume approach this question from five directions: international integration, technological innovation, labor relations and production systems, financial regimes and corporate governance, and domestic politics. In their introduction, Yamamura and Streeck summarize the crises of performance and confidence that have beset German and Japanese capitalism and revived the question of competitive convergence. The editors ask whether the two countries, confronted with the political and economic exigencies of technological revolution and economic internationalization, must abandon their distinctive institutions and the competitive advantages these have yielded in the past, or whether they can adapt and retain such institutions, thereby preserving the social cohesion and economic competitiveness of their societies.

The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan 1825-1995

The Pursuit of Power in Modern Japan 1825-1995 PDF Author: Chushichi Tsuzuki
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191542458
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 562

Get Book

Book Description
This new history of modern Japan covers its remarkable transformation from a small country on the fringe of international politics to the major world power it is today. Professor Tsuzuki traces Japan's pursuit of power, first by military and then by economic means, from her attempts to replace China at the centre of the Confucian Middle Kingdom; through the Meiji nationalist response to the inroads of nineteenth century western imperialism; and on to the post-war USJapanese alliance powering the economic miracle of the last half of the twentieth century. He examines Japan's political, intellectual, and industrial development throughout the last two centuries, with special attention to the wars that were fought, and argues that the history of Japan's modernization was closely linked to the growth of Japan's own imperialism. Tsuzuki goes on to reveal how some of the factors which contributed to remaking Japan as an economic giant have also been responsible for her recent economic and political difficulties.

Japanese Foreign Intelligence and Grand Strategy

Japanese Foreign Intelligence and Grand Strategy PDF Author: Brad Williams
Publisher: Georgetown University Press
ISBN: 1647120640
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 297

Get Book

Book Description
Incisive insights into the distinctive nature of Japanese foreign intelligence and grand strategy, its underlying norms, and how they have changed over time Japanese foreign intelligence is an outlier in many ways. Unlike many states, Japan does not possess a centralized foreign intelligence agency that dispatches agents abroad to engage in espionage. Japan is also notable for civilian control over key capabilities in human and signals intelligence. Japanese Foreign Intelligence and Grand Strategy probes the unique makeup of Japan's foreign intelligence institutions, practices, and capabilities across the economic, political, and military domains and shows how they have changed over time. Brad Williams begins by exploring how Japan’s experiences of the Second World War and its new role as a major US ally influenced its adoption of bilateralism, developmentalism, technonationalism, and antimilitarism as key norms. As a result, Japanese intelligence-gathering resources centered primarily around improving its position in the global economy throughout the Cold War. Williams then brings his analysis up to the Abe Era, examining how shifts in the international, regional, and domestic policy environments in the twenty-first century have caused a gradual reassessment of national security strategy under former prime minister Shinzo Abe. As Japan reevaluates its old norms in light of regional security challenges, the book concludes by detailing how the country is beginning to rethink the size, shape, and purpose of its intelligence community. Anyone interested in Japanese intelligence, security, or international relations will welcome this important contribution to our understanding of the country's intelligence capabilities and strategy.

Introduction to Japanese Politics

Introduction to Japanese Politics PDF Author: Louis D. Hayes
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1315289431
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 405

Get Book

Book Description
This classic introduction to the Japanese political system has been revised and updated to take the account of a time of turmoil in the country's political life. It incorporates new coverage of the end of the Koizumi era, the brief and troubled premiership of Abe, and the selection of Fukuda as prime minister. This edition also includes expanded material on "bubble" and "post-bubble" economic developments, as well as all-new coverage of health care policy.The text opens with an overview of Japan's geographical setting and history. The next group of chapters covers political institutions, processes, and actors. Two sections then address the country's distinctive social order and economy, educational, healthcare, and public safety systems. Part five looks at the increasingly contentious realm of foreign relations and security issues, including China's expanding role and the issue of North Korea. A concluding section considers dynamics of change in Japanese politics.

China's Reforms at 30

China's Reforms at 30 PDF Author: Dali L. Yang
Publisher: World Scientific
ISBN: 9812834249
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 215

Get Book

Book Description
This book consists of papers presented at the International Conference on ?China: The Next Decade?, organized by the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore in 2007 to commemorate the Institute's 10th anniversary. With eight papers covering China's economic, social and political development, this volume offers a balanced yet in-depth assessment of the challenges facing China in the next decade.Featuring contributions from internationally renowned scholars, this timely volume analyzes key aspects of China's reforms and development, such as the financial reform, international trade, leadership succession, social protests, health care reform and ethnic relationships. It is suitable for China scholars as well as advanced undergraduate and graduate students interested in China's polity, economy and society.