Japan's Liberal Democratic Party Research Articles

The multiple patterns of factional influence: Evidence from the 2021 LDP presidential election

AbstractTraditionally, factions and seniority determined who became President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and, thus, Japan's Prime Minister. Since the electoral reform of 1994, however, some scholars have argued that the role of factions has declined, and this has led to ongoing debates over the extent to which factions and other factors have helped determine who will become the leader of Japan's LDP. Using data from the 2021 LDP Presidential election, we find that it is not policy but factional affiliations that matter for LDP members in selecting their leader. In addition to this finding, we disaggregate faction and show that the influence of this political institution in LDP Presidential elections varies across different factions. We also find that electorally weaker LDP incumbents are more likely to support a candidate who is more popular among Japanese voters in general.

Populism and Political Parties in Asia: A Comparison of Aam Admi Party (AAP) in India and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan

Populism is one of the most popular techniques used by Asian political parties. Political parties use this tactic through socio-political movements not only for the larger good of society but also for their own narrow goals. This article investigates two separate political parties from India and Japan. Populist policies have both beneficial and harmful effects on politics. The given promises often failed to address the grievances of the voters. A significant civil society movement propelled the Aam Admi Party (AAP) to political status. It began as a non-political entity and evolved into a political one. Following the formation of AAP, the issue of civil society as a non-political entity arose. The AAP is a regional party that holds power in two Indian states, focusing its populist policies on local issues. As a national party, the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) is comparatively old and addresses pertinent national issues, like national security. The quality of politics and socio-economic dynamics of the two countries are different. This paper argues that populism as a tool cannot always be beneficial for the political culture of a country. The wide gap between the promises and implementation often creates discontent among the voters. This paper will attempt the delineate the different scenarios of the populist policies of the AAP of India and the LDP of Japan using the content analysis method.

An Elite Analysis: Reimagining LDP’s Factions, 1955-1993

he factions of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan have been studied from cultural and functional-structural viewpoints, and have been characterized as being integral to both the functioning and breakdown of the Japanese political system and the LDP. This study seeks to expand the discussion on the factions by moving beyond both these existing viewpoints by using elite and Weberian theory, as well as through a reconstruction of available data and discourse on the subject. The aim here is to reexamine the functions of the factions and their political significance, seeking to reconceptualize them as politically engaged elite organizations. The findings indicate that the factions of the LDP are competing elite organizations with discernible policy involvements and differentiations, both from a theoretical and evidential perspective.

Policy of the Great Power of Japan under Shinzo Abe

The article examines the “policy of a Great power” during the reign of Shinzo Abe: the emergence, main directions and factors influencing its development. The analysis of S. Abe's attempts to get rid of the “post-war system” in domestic politics is given: to revise the pacifist constitution, to carry out vigorous military development and to restructure the national security system. Special attention is paid to the main directions of S. Abe's foreign policy: value diplomacy, global diplomacy and foreign policy towards the United States and China. After the defeat in World War II, Japan quickly turned into a great economic power, but there were no corresponding changes in its political and military status. The Japanese Government seeks to change this situation and turn Japan into a world power with the appropriate economic and military power. The article presents the results of the “Great Power policy” during the reign of S. Abe at home and in the international arena, and also analyzes the factors that influenced its implementation. The author comes to the conclusion that the great-power policy of S. Abe has achieved certain results both within the country and in the international arena. At the same time, it was not possible to revise Article 9 of the Constitution, achieve independence in conducting foreign policy from the United States and effectively restrain China in the region and in the international arena. The strong positions of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan within the country and the stability of its foreign policy settings give reason to believe that the “Great Power policy” will be continued by the new Prime Minister.

THE SENKAKU/DIAOYU ISLANDS DISPUTE: A DISPUTE FOR DISPUTE’S SAKE

The article takes a critical look at the current state of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands dispute in light of the recent escalation between China and Japan. The article's central thesis is that the practical significance of the dispute has diminished considerably due to developments in the security and economic spheres. Rather, the dispute continues to exist and escalate because of the domestic political interests of the respective governments. This recognition is important to manage the dispute effectively, to avoid hyperbolic arguments about the dispute's conflict potential, and similarly to avoid undue comparisons with the South China Sea. This article adopts a realist, rational-choice based approach to demonstrate the diminishing nature of the security and economic significance of the islands, which underpins a decreasing rationale for actively seeking an alteration of the status quo. The question of why the dispute continues to escalate is highlighted in the article's examination of how the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan and the Chinese Communist Party use the islands as a political symbol to pursue their own domestic and regional political agenda, in a way only tangentially connected to the actual dispute.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ФОРМИРОВАНИЯ СИСТЕМЫ ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ ЯПОНИИ НА СОВРЕМЕННОМ ЭТАПЕ

The current geopolitical instability, globalization, the coronavirus crisis, the digitalization of the economy accelerated in these conditions and the increasing competition in the world market have repeatedly exacerbated the problems of economic security both at the international and national levels. In these conditions, the issues of national economic security acquire special importance and become one of the factors of the country's competitiveness on the world market. Japan's approaches to economic security, interpreted as the ability of the country's economy to withstand any external threat, are an essential component of the global security system. They are based on the basic principles of the functioning of the economic system that Japan has been building for the entire post-war period. The purpose of this article is to identify the results of the evolution of the Japanese concept of economic security using analytical and comparative methods. It is established that the legal basis has been formed in Japan and the practical implementation of the national system of economic security has been carried out. It is proved that in the field of economics, the degree of independence of Japan in determining national interests and priorities reaches the boundaries of sovereignty. The national specifics of Japan, manifested in the maritime situation of the country, deprived of most natural resources, specific national features and the quality of labor resources, rich traditions and a special economic model, are fully taken into account both in the conceptual foundations of building a security system and in its institutional support. The main threats are analyzed, the specifics of the Japanese approach to strengthening economic security are traced, trends and prospects for its development within the international system of economic security are identified. The conclusions formulated in the article are of particular importance in connection with the plans of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan to adopt a Law on the country's Economic Security in 2022, which is due to significant changes in the balance of power on the world stage.

Языковая реализация прагматических стратегий в японском политическом дискурсе (на материале публичных выступлений членов «Либеральнодемократической партии Японии»)

Языковая реализация прагматических стратегий в японском политическом дискурсе (на материале публичных выступлений членов «Либеральнодемократической партии Японии»)

The Presidentialization of Japan's LDP Politics: Analyzing Its Causes, Limits, and Perils

This article examines the elevated status of the prime minister in the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government through the lens of Poguntke and Webb's presidentialization thesis. There are two distinctive characteristics in the Japanese case. First, its presidentialization does not occur as the evolution of the Westminster model and instead follows a unique path. Second, the reinforced position of the Japanese premiership is in essence the product of institutional reforms that the Japanese political class has enacted in the last two decades for the renewal of national strategies, which in turn means that the Japanese presidentialization is taking place by design at its core. Furthermore, the latter fact implies its potential risks—most importantly, the progress of presidentialization under the LDP's continued dominance can undermine check‐and‐balance functions in Japanese democracy to a hazardous degree.

Happiness before and after an election: An analysis based on a daily survey around Japan’s 2009 election

This paper investigates whether the Japanese voters became happy and/or unhappy due to the results of the General Election in 2009. We conducted a daily web survey for seven days before and after the election, obtaining 1068 responses. Estimating a fixed effects model, we found that among those whose expectation differed from the reality, supporters of the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), the winner, became significantly happier, and supporters of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP) and New Komeito, the losers, became significantly unhappier on the day following the election. However, happiness returned to the previous level in one or two days, implying people adapted to the news very quickly. On the other hand, the happiness level of those whose expectation of the election results were realized did not change. In a word, only unexpected results matter. Dividing those who support the policies of DPJ into two groups, those who expect material benefits from the victory of DPJ and those who do not, the obtained results suggested that the reason why the supporters of the winner (DPJ) felt happy was not because they obtained material benefits from the change of government.

Electoral incentives, policy compromise, and coalition durability: Japan's LDP–Komeito Government in a mixed electoral system

AbstractPolitical parties’ behavior in coalition formation is commonly explained by their policy-, vote-, and office-seeking incentives. From these perspectives, the 20-year partnership of Japan's ruling conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and its pacifistic Komeito junior coalition partner is an anomalous case. The longevity, closeness, and nature of their unlikely partnership challenges core assumptions in existing theories of coalition politics. LDP–Komeito cooperation has sustained for two decades despite vastly different support bases and ideological differences on fundamental policy issues. LDP leaders also show no signs of abandoning the much smaller Komeito despite enjoying a single-party majority. We argue that the remarkable durability of this puzzling partnership results primarily from the two parties’ electoral incentives and what has effectively become codependence under Japan's mixed electoral system. Our analysis also demonstrates that being in a coalition can induce significant policy compromises, even from a much larger senior partner. Beyond theoretical implications, these phenomena yield important real-world consequences for Japanese politics: especially, a far less dominant LDP than the party's Diet seat total suggests, and Komeito's remarkable ability to punch significantly above its weight and constrain its far larger senior partner, even on the latter's major national security policy priorities.

Womenomics under Abe's Leadership Signs of Feminisation of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party?

Japanese Prime Minister Abe is known for his efforts to advance gender equality through womenomics. This seems to put Japan in line with other countries where conservative leaders have embraced gender equality to win back young and female voters and to modernise the image of conservative parties. While electoral calculation drives feminisation in the majority of cases, we argue that this is not the case in Japan. Instead, economic and international pressures are more important drivers than electoral calculations.

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

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.

Japan's Regional Inequality in Hard Times

The widening economic gap between Japan's major urban centers and its rural regions has been regarded as one of the country's most serious political and social concerns since the early 2000s. This article examines the politics of regional inequality in Japan over the past decade, focusing on the driving force of the growing divide between the urban and rural economies and the strategies of political parties to redress the problem. In this article, I argue that the Koizumi cabinet's fiscal decentralization and neoliberal economic reform contributed to the rapid rise of regional inequality. While the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan attempted to respond to this problem in the post-Koizumi period, the urban-based Democratic Party of Japan strategically made people's growing concern over regional economic disparity a key part of its electoral agenda in order to court the rural vote.

Quota Nonadoption in Japan: The Role of the Women's Movement and the Opposition

In 2003, Japan's dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) committed to the goal of 30% female representation in management and political positions by 2020 to conform with the international norm to promote women's leadership. This nonbinding commitment received widespread media attention. In 2012, Prime Minister Shinzō Abe reemphasized this goal before the lower house election. Yet, in his first cabinet, Abe appointed only two women. Moreover, in the 2013 upper house election, the LDP fielded only 9 women out of 79 candidates, nowhere near the 30% candidate goal (Torres 2013). In September 2014, Abe appointed five new women in his cabinet reshuffle, two of whom were forced to resign a month later due to scandals. Four women currently sit on the cabinet due to one female replacement (Flackler 2014). Despite Abe's attempts to increase women in his cabinet, most agree that Japan is not on target to meet the 30% benchmark (Gender Equality Bureau 2012).

Between Pork and People: An Analysis of the Policy Balance in the LDP's Election Platforms

In this article I examine changes in the election manifestos of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party. While the existing literature agrees that the LDP's policy platform has changed considerably since the introduction of the new election system in the 1990s, their analysis focuses on material policies such as pork barrel and welfare. Postmaterialist policies such as environmental protection have hardly been discussed, even though they have been relevant since pollution swept progressive mayors into power in the 1960s. I examine election platforms from 1956 through 2013, and argue that the LDP has carefully adjusted its policy mix by putting a greater emphasis on postmaterialist policies. My analysis also shows that while electoral reform has had an impact on the policy balance between postmaterialist and materialist policies as well as clientelist and programmatic policies, these changes are not linear, but vary from decade to decade.

Japan's New Politics

In December 2012, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party, led by Shinzo Abe, achieved a landslide election victory. After three years of rule by the Democratic Party of Japan, Abe, who first served as pr...

Electoral Consequences of Municipal Mergers

The dominance of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was long buttressed by the existence of a strong political support base in the rural areas led by local politicians who worked on behalf of national LDP politicians seeking reelection. In recent years, municipal mergers have drastically weakened the LDP's support base by reducing the number of local politicians and redrawing electoral district boundaries. Surprisingly, the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), could not take full advantage of these new institutional arrangements. Instead, local politicians have become more independent of both major parties. As a result, at a time of increasing numbers of floating voters, neither of Japan's two major parties has a reliable local base across the country. To succeed, both parties must pay attention to the changing needs of the increasingly independent—and very often still rural—localities.

Portfolio Allocation as Leadership Strategy: Intraparty Bargaining in Japan

How do the dynamics of portfolio allocation work within parties? While much of the existing literature focuses on portfolio allocation among parties in coalition governments, bargaining over cabinet portfolios also takes place within parties because many parties have internal divisions or factions that influence these decisions. By analyzing data on portfolio allocation in the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan from 1960 through 2007, this study demonstrates that, contrary to the proportionality proposition (Gamson's Law), substantial variance exists in allocation outcomes over time because party leaders allocate cabinet portfolios among factions as a means of preventing defections and challenges from their party's members. The resulting portfolio allocation reflects the bargaining dynamics within the party: I find that party leaders surrender more portfolios as they become more vulnerable to challenges posed by internal rivals.

Stress Test for the U.S.-Japan Alliance under the Democratic Party of Japan

The U.S.-Japan security alliance faced major challenges when the liberal Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) replaced the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as ruling party in 2009. This paper traces the evolution of the DPJ’s alliance management over the last three years from brash idealism to sober pragmatism as the party was forced to discard campaign promises to “equalize” and “reassess” the alliance, and came to realize that the changing security environment required a stronger alliance and not a diminished one. A major turning point was the unprecedented massive joint cooperation by U.S. and Japanese troops to respond to the 2011 earthquake disaster. The paper concludes that the alliance is as operationally strong now as it was under the LDP, but that the same problems exist, too, particularly the inability to resolve contentious issues regarding U.S. bases in Okinawa.

Steadfast Yet Reluctant Allies: Japan and the United Kingdom in the Vietnam War

During the Vietnam War there were high expectations from the Johnson and Nixon Administrations for Japan and Britain to provide practical and political support for American military and strategic objectives in Indochina. The leader of Japan's conservative Liberal Democratic Party, Sato Eisaku, and the British Labour Party's Harold Wilson, balanced political support for the United States with significant public pressure at home to eschew any entanglement in the highly unpopular conflict. As junior allies of the United States both Sato and Wilson did not want to see the United States fail in Vietnam or the communist sphere expand in Southeast Asia. Both leaders accrued significant foreign policy advantages as a result of politically and publicly supporting American actions in Vietnam. But to placate domestic electorates that clearly felt uncomfortable over their governments providing explicit, albeit non-military, support to the United States in Vietnam, Sato and Wilson expended substantial prime ministerial diplomacy in attempting to play a mediatory role in the conflict. Each was highly successful in balancing domestic and American demands, whilst maintaining their security partnerships with the United States.