1. Japan: Politics

3. Outline Political institutions Parties and elections
parliamentary system of government
National Diet
Prime Minister and Cabinet
bureaucracy
Judiciary
Parties and elections

4. National Diet House of Councillors (Upper House)
House of Representatives (Lower House)
choose prime minister
pass budget
ratify treaties

7. Prime Minister & Cabinet
All are members of the Japanese National Diet
Most are members of the House of Representatives

8. 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
won father’s seat in the House
of Representatives in 1993

9. LDP All Prime Ministers of Japan from 1954 to 1993 from 1996 to 2009
were from LDP

10. 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

11. 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

12. Party Systems before '92
Combination of multiparty system with sustained dominance of 1 majority party
Chaotic political party system
2 conservative parties, 2 socialist parties, communist party, plus micro-parties
Party merges in 1955
“One-and-a-Half Party System”

13. Party System

14. 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

15. National Vote Share

16. Pre-1994 Electoral Rules

17. Industrial contributions

19. The Iron Triangle
bureaucrats
big business
executives
LDP politicians

20. 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

21. 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

22. Party Realignment (‘90s)

23. Public support for parties

24. 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)