Japan: Politics

Outline

• Political institutions– parliamentary system of government– National Diet– Prime Minister and Cabinet– bureaucracy– Judiciary

• Parties and elections

National Diet

• House of Councillors (Upper House)

• House of Representatives (Lower House)– choose prime minister– pass budget– ratify treaties

Prime Minister & Cabinet

• All are members of the Japanese National Diet

• Most are members of the House of Representatives

Prime Minister

• Shinzo Abe (born in 1954)

• Prime Minister since December 2012

• Liberal Democratic Party

• family’s political and economic power– father was Foreign Minister 1982-1986

• won father’s seat in the House

of Representatives in 1993

LDP

• All Prime Ministers of Japan

• from 1954 to 1993

• from 1996 to 2009

• were from LDP

The Bureaucracy

• Heavy involvement in policymaking:– draft legislation (short and vague laws)– implementing or enforcing legislation

• Recruit the best of college graduates

• ``Prime Ministers come and go, but we are forever”

- A Japanese bureaucrat

Local government

• Unitary rather than federal system:– local authority delegated by central governmt.– 47 prefectures

• governors and legislatures

– hundreds of municipalities• mayors and city councils

• 2/3 of all government spending

• 1/3 of all tax revenues

Party Systems before '92

• Combination of multiparty system with sustained dominance of 1 majority party

• Chaotic political party system 1946-55– 2 conservative parties, 2 socialist parties,

communist party, plus micro-parties

• Party merges in 1955

• “One-and-a-Half Party System”

Party System 1955 - 1992

Major Political Parties

• Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)– conservative catch-all party

• Japan Socialist Party (JSP)– “Japan Peace Party”

• Japan Communist Party (JCP)– anti-emperor, anti-capitalism, anti-military– only party untainted by money politics

National Vote Share

Pre-1994 Electoral Rules

Industrial contributions

The Iron Triangle

bureaucrats

LDP politiciansbig businessexecutives

Political Earthquake of '93-'95

• Economic stagnation since late 1980s

• Major corruption scandals of LDP leaders– 2.5 billion yen contribution from a company– 1 billion yen income tax evasion

• LDP Diet members split and some left to form new parties

• LDP coalition cabinets since 1996

New Electoral Rules (1996)

• 480 members in House of Representatives– 300 elected from single-member districts– 180 elected from 11 proportional

representation districts

• 252 members in House of Councillors– 100 elected from proportional representation

district– 152 elected from 47 prefecture constituencies

Party Realignment (‘90s)

Public support for parties

Japan’s International Role

• Yoshida Doctrine (pre-1980s)– political-economic cooperation with U.S.– small national defense expenditure– security guaranteed by U.S. (military bases)

• Low-profile foreign policy

• Trade policy

• Economic superpower (1980s)