Liberal Democratic Party Research Articles

Japan's Human Rights Diplomacy: A Convergence of Geopolitical and Geoeconomic Interests

executive summary: This article argues that Japan's human rights diplomacy has undergone four distinct stages in the postwar period and analyzes Tokyo's efforts in case studies focusing on the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and China. main argumentFor decades after its defeat in World War II, Japan was perceived as a laggard in promoting human rights internationally. Today, Japan advances human rights on the global stage through a combination of peacekeeping missions, developmental assistance, and other technical investments in human security. However, Tokyo notably refrains from involving itself in certain conflicts where an unambiguous stance would interrupt meaningful business or investment ties. Japan's gradual but significant shift regarding the use of human rights as a tool of diplomacy reflects the close links of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to domestic commercial interests. As a result of these links, the Japanese government increasingly understands its foreign policy aims through a primarily geoeconomic lens. policy implications • Focus on global human rights standards instead of individual cases . Past interactions with Japan demonstrate that underscoring the larger economic and political benefits of a more robust global human rights regime, as well as the isolating effects of not upholding international standards and responsibilities, can be an effective diplomatic approach. Such methods have been a good motivator for sparking pivotal shifts in Japanese behavior. • Embrace business-sector leadership on human rights promotion . Japan is on a positive trajectory toward embracing human rights diplomacy primarily because of the changing priorities of large companies and industry groups. Thus, addressing human rights through these domestic commercial avenues and encouraging business-to-business dialogue represent perhaps the best hope for concrete and meaningful engagement. • Welcome and co-sign Japanese leadership whenever evident . Japan has displayed a newfound sense of "skin in the game" from its recent leadership in high-standard multilateral trade facilitation. Simultaneously, Japan has continued to distinguish itself as an international proponent of good governance frameworks. Japan's success in socializing its "free and open Indo-Pacific" vision should be used to incentivize Tokyo's further involvement in devising new means of holding China and other rising powers accountable to international governance standards.

Still valuable? Reconsidering the role of authoritarian values among Japanese voters

AbstractThe Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has dominated Japanese politics since its foundation in 1955. The party's ability to support the interests of small farmers and its commitment to the middle-class through redistributive economic policies have been regarded as among the primary factors leading to its prolonged hegemony. Yet, the LDP has occasionally relied on non-economic political appeals addressing rather conservative issues such as Japan's military force and the country's traditional values. These appeals have significantly intensified under the premiership of Junichirō Koizumi and his successor Shinzō Abe, whose authoritative leadership styles and nationalist agendas reveal the relevance of non-economic values. This study focuses on the role of authoritarian values in shaping vote choice in twenty-first century Japan. Previously emphasized in The Japanese Voter, the authority–liberty dimension has gradually lost prominence in recent models of voting behavior, where socio-economic factors have had a central role in explaining vote choice. Our inquiry places new emphasis on this value dimension and provides evidence for the enduring relevance of individual authoritarian dispositions in models of vote choice.

Odd Couple, Strange Marriage

In 2017, Tokyo held landmark prefectural elections featuring a new regional party, Tokyoites First. Fueled by the popularity of Governor Yuriko Koike, Tokyoites First gained legislative control through an alliance with Komeito, relegating the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) to opposition status. The alliance was surprising, especially since Komeito remained a national coalition partner with the LDP. Why would Komeito, a junior partner in a long-standing national alliance with the LDP, simultaneously ally with another party against the LDP subnationally? What explains such incongruence, or alliance juxtaposition, where a party has different partners across administrative tiers? We explain this dalliance in terms of institutional factors and party strategy. Tokyo’s distinctive voters and electoral system made for novel coalition opportunities. Strategically, Komeito’s fling signaled its autonomy to supporters and to LDP leaders, showing that its loyalty cannot be assumed.

The Social Issue in the Programs of Russian Political Parties

The author analyzes the solution of the social issue in the programs of Russian political parties. It is noted that not all Russian parties have a social program, despite the fact that political parties have the opportunity to formulate the main directions of social policy and implement them. The program documents of such parties as United Russia, Just Russia, and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation are the most informative. Pension provision is the most demanded by political parties, therefore, each program contains proposals for its solution. It should be noted that not all political parties offer real plans for improving pensions, many party documents contain criticism and rhetorical exclamations. The issue of social insurance is considered by the parties to a lesser extent. We can note the specific proposals of the parties "United Russia" and the Liberal Democratic Party. The article concludes about the important role of social policy programs for the political future of parties. The real result of the elections to the State Duma in 2021 testifies to the importance of social policy in the program documents of a political party. The elections were won by parties that had social programs: United Russia, which won by a wide margin, the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, which received 18.93% of the vote, and A Just Russia, with a score of 7.46%. Thus, the solution of social issues is the key to the longevity and political relevance of the party.

Ethnicity, Democracy, and Political Instability in Nigeria: An Appraisal

The article examined how ethnocentrism is used to further the interest of petty bourgeoisie leading to political instability in Nigeria. The establishment of elective principle midwifed liberal democratic party system in 1922. The Nigerian National Democratic Party in Nigeria was the first party to be birthed. The electoral requirements for candidates and electorates provided opportunities for the educated elite to hijack the process. The partitioning of the country into three regions-east, north and west in 1945 led to the formation of ethnic based political parties- National Congress Nigeria and Cameroon (east), Northern People Congress(north), and Action Group (west), which gave rise to fierce ethnic competition among the political elite. The political elites fell back to the region to consolidate their power base. The contention for space-dominance became more pronounced. However, over decades, this politics of ethnic acrimony has continued and increased the degree of political instability to the extent that almost all the general elections conducted in the post-independence era have been bedeviled with electoral violence leading to destruction of lives and properties. The study adopted clientelist theory and culture of violence theory in its theoretical underpinning. The study explored qualitative method of data gathering technique. The study unraveled that the competition for political position predicated on primitive accumulation of natural resources promotes ethnic cleavage. The study recommends amongst others that politicians indicted for electoral violence in past and present should be tried in the content court of jurisdiction to discourage political violence in Nigeria.

What Exactly is it that the Taiwan Greens Want? Extracting “Taiwan Subjectivity” from the Liberty Times Newspaper

AbstractOne source of the idea that Taiwan independence would be politically desirable is belief in the concept of “Taiwan subjectivity,” which indicates that Taiwan is not an appendage of China but instead an autonomous actor charting its own course – or trying to do so in the face of huge difficulties. The ruling (since 2016) Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) pledges fealty to the goal of ultimately realizing subjectivity but cannot aggressively pursue the agenda because of opposition from the People's Republic of China (PRC), the United States, and some in Taiwan itself. What might that agenda be? Using a Structural Topic Model, we excavate the subjectivity discourse as it developed from 2008 to 2020 in the mainstream DPP-supporting newspaper, the Liberty Times. We find fourteen topics associated with the concept, the most prevalent of which in recent years warn of threats to subjectivity's realization in the political and sociocultural spheres.

Ideological Extremism and Political Participation in Japan

Abstract Do the policy preferences expressed through political participation represent the citizens as a whole? Previous studies argue that there is no ideological bias in voting participation in Japan. However, previous studies have only analyzed Japan up to 2010, and it is unclear whether ideological bias was consistently absent in voting participation in the 2010s. In the 2010s, ideological issues, such as the maintenance of nuclear power plants or the acceptance of collective self-defense, emerged in Japan, and the two major political parties, the Liberal Democratic Party and Democratic Party of Japan, became increasingly polarized. Considering these changes, the influence of ideology on political participation may be growing. Therefore, this paper examines the relationship between people’s ideological positions and political participation using voter surveys conducted between 2001 and 2017. I find that since 2012, the more ideologically extreme Japanese voters are, the more they participate in voting. Furthermore, the same is true for other forms of participation. In general, the voices of ideologically moderate Japanese are becoming less represented by political parties and politicians.

Coordinating nominations: how to deal with an incumbent surplus after electoral reform

AbstractHow do parties and candidates react to electoral system reform? While the literature on causes and consequences of electoral reforms is receiving increasing attention, we lack a systematic micro-level account on how parties and candidates adopt to changes in electoral rules and district boundaries. This paper examines the case of the Japanese Liberal Democrats to explore how the party has managed to accommodate a surplus of incumbents to a reduced number of nominal tier seats following the 1994 electoral reform. By using micro-level data, I examine how the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has matched candidates based on their expected electoral strength and ideological positioning to new districts. Moreover, I investigate how the newly instituted party-list allowed the LDP to avoid its disintegration at the local level by systematically defusing local stand-offs through the handing out of promising list positions. My findings help to understand how the LDP could avoid its disintegration and could continue to dominate Japanese politics until today.

The roles of governors, local legislatures, and national politics in allocating disaster recovery payments: Evidence from Japan

This study explores how congressional and local politics influence the allocation of disaster recovery payments using Japanese prefectural-level panel data from 1989 to 2015. The main findings are as follows. First, gubernatorial years in office positively affect allocation. This holds true even after substituting terms in office for years in office. Second, the share of prefectural legislators belonging to the governing parties is negatively correlated with payments. This connection was strongest when the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was the sole governing party or part of coalitions with other governing parties. Third, governors' role in increasing funds for disaster recovery has deepened since the 2000s, but in the 1990s, the distribution system of specific-purpose grants (which the LDP had developed over a long period of time) helped to dispense payments. Fourth, gubernatorial election year, a governor's partisan affiliation, and other legislative and congressional political factors do not explain disaster payment allocation.

Research on the Changes of the Social Curriculum of Basic Education in Taiwan and Its Enlightenment

The Twelve-Year National Basic Education Curriculum in Taiwan is compiled and revised on the basis of the Grade 1 - 9 Curriculum and is currently the main curriculum in Taiwan. The Twelve-Year National Basic Education Curriculum—Social Curriculum is one of eight learning focuses. Its value and function are to promote culture and institutions, develop attitudes and competencies for inquiry, engagement, practice, reflection and innovation. This paper takes the social curriculum in the Twelve-Year National Basic Education Curriculum and the Grade 1 - 9Curriculum as the research object, illustrates the reasons for the revision of the social curriculum, including contradictions brought by economic development, social burdens brought by population problems, teenagers under huge pressure due to “involution”, the political game between the Democratic Progressive Party and the Kuomintang and continuous updating of the curriculum. The main changes in the social curriculum are as follows: continuation of the basic idea, the shift from ability-oriented to literacy-oriented, adjustment of the content in history, geography, civic and social curriculum. These changes have brought following consequences. First, the integrated curriculum is conducive to cultivating students’ comprehensive quality, but also hinders the friendly development of cross-strait relations to a certain extent. Second, through the analysis of Taiwan’s Twelve-Year National Basic Education Curriculum—Social Curriculum, the reform of China’s basic education curriculum should promote the development of twelve-year consistent education, develop students’ problem awareness, cultivate interdisciplinary thinking, and form an evaluation approach suitable for local education.

Who Makes the Fall Happen? A Study of Two National Taiwanese Universities’ Experiences of Removing Statues of Chiang Kai-shek

Addressing contentious historical figures’ statues and heritages is an issue that perplexes many countries and generates polarised social debates. Taiwanese society has also had a long debate on how to appropriately handle statues of the country’s former leader, Chiang Kai-shek. What has become known as “fallism” has been quite prevalent worldwide in recent years. Several studies have attempted to delineate this trend in South Africa, Belgium, the UK, and Taiwan under the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) rule after 2016. However, no study thus far has focused on who truly makes the fall happen. In this study, the authors examine two Taiwanese cases—National Chengchi University and National Sun Yat-sen University, located in the north and south of Taiwan respectively—and explore these two universities’ experiences of decision-making with regard to the removal of Chiang’s statues. To do so, we examine both quantitative and qualitative data collected through participatory observation and voting results. This study aims to answer the fundamental question of who actually makes the statues fall. The findings of this study enrich the discussion of fallism in the current literature.

Considering on the Liberal Democratic Party’s Defeats in 2017 & 2021 General Election at All Electoral Districts of Saga Prefecture

Considering on the Liberal Democratic Party’s Defeats in 2017 & 2021 General Election at All Electoral Districts of Saga Prefecture

Middle or Muddle: Whither Post-Abe Japan?

The brief political disruption in October 2021 that put Kishida Fumio as Japan’s prime minister may restore an ideological balance within the Liberal Democratic Party, a conservative party whose strength lies in its ability to be a broad church of views on issues related to foreign and security policies. This would be important to the Indo-Pacific region where events will be shaped largely by the contests between China and the United States.

Yasukuni Fundamentalism: Japanese Religions and the Politics of Restoration by Mark R. Mullins

Reviewed by: Yasukuni Fundamentalism: Japanese Religions and the Politics of Restoration by Mark R. Mullins Saitō Kōta Yasukuni Fundamentalism: Japanese Religions and the Politics of Restoration. By Mark R. Mullins. University of Hawai'i Press, 2021. 270 pages. ISBN: 9780824889012 (hardcover; also available as softcover and e-book). Despite the vast number of books and essays that have been written on it, Yasukuni Shrine remains a difficult subject for academic discussion. The difficulty stems first [End Page 170] of all from the complex history of the shrine from the Meiji period to the present. But another major factor is the violent political debate that the shrine still inspires in Japan and abroad. Discussions of Yasukuni tend to strongly reflect the political position of the debater, sometimes leading to an oversimplification of his or her viewpoint. While some attempts at empirical historical research have been made in the interest of avoiding such problems, even they have not been able to wholly escape the ideology that inevitably surrounds Yasukuni Shrine. Especially challenging is the question of how to understand the ideology of rightists who are trying to revitalize the role of this shrine in current Japanese politics. Calling that ideology State Shinto would be one possible solution, but that only invites the more difficult question of what this academically and politically contentious term really means. In Yasukuni Fundamentalism, Mark R. Mullins, who has published many important studies on religion in modern Japan, tackles these issues from the perspective of the historical sociology of religion. As reflected in the title, the key to this book is the concept of fundamentalism, which Mullins deploys to reveal the process by which the changes Yasukuni Shrine underwent during the Allied Occupation led to the rise of right-wing political forces seeking what they saw as restoration. The introduction explains the author's framework for examining Yasukuni Shrine. Mullins focuses on the new relationship between nationalism and organized religion in contemporary Japan, seeing it as part of the rise of global religious nationalism. As a central example he cites the movement toward cooperation between the Shinto shrine community and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)—a push for desecularization or deprivatization that seeks to restore the official role that was taken away from Shinto by the policies of the Occupation. This movement is sometimes understood as "an effort to restore State Shinto" (p. 20). However, Mullins himself does not choose to employ the concept of State Shinto, noting that the movement includes no claim to revive the prewar control of shrines under the Bureau of Shrines in the Home Ministry. He also observes that many in the Shinto community are not sympathetic to the movement. His argument and its rationale are solid. Mullins contends, rather, that the contemporary Japanese neonationalist movement is best understood as religious fundamentalism, given that it emerged as a response to the confusion caused by modernization and secularization, and is a "politics of inclusion" that seeks to reclaim the "essential" beliefs and values of the past and enforce them on the entire population (pp. 23–24). Inspired by the discourse of the movement's critics, Mullins describes it as "Yasukuni fundamentalism" in acknowledgement of the symbolic meaning the shrine holds in the movement's goal of restoring an old Japan (pp. 25–27). Part 1 (chapters 1 to 3) of the book delineates the postwar history of Japanese religious nationalism. Chapter 1, "Imperialist Secularization: The Restructuring of Religion and Society in Occupied Japan," details the establishment of the separation of religion and state in occupied Japan. As is well known, the Shinto Directive [End Page 171] issued by GHQ/SCAP in 1945 severed the relationship between Shinto and the state. This was a forced secularization by a foreign power and a typical example of what N. J. Demerath calls "imperialist secularization."1 Mullins notes, however, that the US State Department had been aware of the complex nature of "military shrines" such as Yasukuni from before the Occupation (pp. 38–39). The difficult decision of whether to apply the principle of freedom of religion to military shrines was left to the Religions and Cultural Resources Division of the Civil Information and Educational Section, which...

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 role of the Liberal Democratic Party factions in Japan’s foreign policy

The role of the Liberal Democratic Party factions in Japan’s foreign policy

The political summer of 2022 in Japan: A storm before a lull?

The article addresses the political processes in Japan in the summer of 2022. The central place among them is occupied by the elections to the House of Councilors held in July, which brought victory to the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito. As the main reason for the strong performance of the conservatives in the author views is the fact that Prime Minister Fumio Kishida grasped and duly took into account in his election program a shift to the right in the mainstream sentiment of the Japanese society, under which, against the background of the tightening security environment around Japan, it began to show “understanding” to the growth of military spending, the revision of Article 9 of the Constitution and the abolition of other pacifist restrictions. Kishida returned to the principles of the inter-factional balance of power in the cabinet reshuffle, introducing a significant number of newcomers in accordance with the wishes of the factional leaders. Given the current situation in the parliament, as well as the fact that national elections are not expected in Japan until 2025, Kishida received a huge freedom of hands, not being bound by the need to constantly act basing on the considerations of political expediency. So far, he has shown himself to be a loyal disciple of his predecessor Abe, with great reverence for most of his endeavors, but it is still difficult to say whether he will continue Abe’s policy in all areas.

Prelude to the "History War": the Making history Right of the Kim Young-sam regime

Kim Young-sam administration formalized historical liquidation through the review of modern history for the first time at the government level through ‘making history right.’ The historical liquidation work of the Kim Young-sam administration needs to be positioned as the beginning of the government-level liquidation of past history. Kim Young-sam’s insistence on ‘making history right’ and liquidation of the 5th and 6th governments was also a political choice to solidify his political position. In the process, there was a backlash from conservative forces inside and outside the Democratic Liberal Party(New Korea Party), which also led to the reorganization of the conservative political forces. And in the end, due to the reality of the Kim Young-sam regime and the economic crisis, a reaction to the historical liquidation work called ‘Park Chung-hee Syndrome’ appeared. This article connects the context of ‘making history right’, one of the reform policies developed during the Kim Young-sam administration with the 5.18 special law enactment, the trial of Chun Doo-hwan and Roh Tae-woo, and amnesty. It examines how historical awareness functions in the process of compromise and is selectively used for political purposes. It also describes the process in which conservative forces were reorganized as a reaction to the Kim Young-sam regime’s work to clean up history and finally ‘the Park Chung-hee syndrome’ emerged.

ЎЗБЕКИСТОНДА КЎППАРТИЯВИЙ ТИЗИМНИНГ ШАКЛЛАНИШИ ВА РИВОЖЛАНИШИ

The article provides a scientific and theoretical analysis of the essence and content of the phenomenon of the party, the legal nature of the multiparty system, the impact of its formation on the mechanism of the political system, the role of parties in the political and social life of our society, the main tasks facing them. The goals of the existing political parties in Uzbekistan were analyzed from the point of view of the electorate. In addition, the author analyzes the formation of a multi-party system, positive and negative trends in the development of political parties, and offers solutions to these problems. The problems of legal regulation of the system of public work of political parties are analyzed and the main priorities for their solution are proposed. Based on a critical analysis of information on the organizational and legal framework in the charter and official websites of parties - Movement of Entrepreneurs and Businessmen - Liberal Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, Democratic Party “Milliy Tiklanish”, People’s Democratic Party of Uzbekistan, Social Democratic Party “Adolat”, Ecological Party proposals and recommendations for their solution were developed. Important issues in the development of political parties in the context of digital technologies, such as the work of parties with the public, the maintenance of websites, as well as dealing with voter appeals on social media have been identified.

The Limited Role of the Japanese Military: The 2003 Iraq War and the War on the Islamic State

What determines Japan's willingness to flex its limited military muscle abroad? While analysts and scholars closely watched Japanese "militarization" under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (2012-2020), Japan had already deployed its military overseas over a decade ago in support of U.S. operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. By contrast, in 2014, Japan was unwilling to support U.S.-led operations against the Islamic State (ISIL) in Iraq and Syria. This presents a puzzle, as the fight against ISIL offered the kind of international legitimacy that the 2003 Iraq invasion lacked, and Japan traditionally seeks. Moreover, ISIL had killed Japanese citizens. This paper explains Japan's varying policies in Iraq in 2003 and 2014, thereby shedding light on the determinants of Japanese national security policy more generally. Our argument focuses on domestic political factors (especially the pluralist foreign policymaking) and strategic thinking rooted in realism. We argue that Japanese policies are driven by domestic politics, profound suspicions about the utility of military force and fears of becoming entangled in a seemingly never-ending conflict. While Koizumi may have had more room to manoeuvre despite long-standing public opposition to overseas military deployments when he dispatched the SDF to Iraq in 2003, it is precisely such deeply-entrenched popular anathema that many blame for the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP) historic and devastating loss in the 2009 election. Abe was unwilling to repeat such a risky venture in 2014. We also highlight the role of realist calculations on both Japanese elites and the public, who by 2014 had come to see China rather than state or non-state actors in the Middle East as a primary security threat. We thus confirm Midford's finding that "defensive realism" tends to drive Japanese foreign policy thinking. Japanese citizens are not pacifists, as conventional wisdom might hold. Instead, Japanese public opinion supports the use of minimum military force when and if Japan is attacked to defend Japan's national sovereignty and territory but is much more suspicious of such power when it comes to deployments and the pursuit of other foreign policy goals.