Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T23:48:21.528Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Old party, new tricks: candidates, parties, and LDP dominance in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 June 2022

Jordan Hamzawi Open the ORCID record for Jordan Hamzawi [Opens in a new window]
Jordan Hamzawi*
Affiliation:
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: jordanhamzawi@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In 2009, after decades of single party rule under the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), Japan had its first taste of a real alteration of power. However, just 3 years later, the LDP regained control of government with no significant challenger in sight. Historically, LDP dominance is a common tale, but its resurgence in recent years poses a significant puzzle in Japanese politics. What exactly has contributed to the LDP's return to power? In the years that have passed, the LDP's strength has come from a combination of cash, clientelistic networks, and strong candidates, but recent research has found that Japanese politics has become more programmatic and party-focused. While LDP dominance since its return to power in 2012 can be attributed in part to its candidates, I find that the appeal of the party label has played a large role in securing the LDP's large majorities.

Keywords

Electoral politicsJapanese politicsparty competition
Type
Research Note
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 23 , Issue 3 , September 2022 , pp. 283 - 293
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angrist, JD and Pischke, JS (2008) Mostly Harmless Econometrics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bouissou, JM (2018) Organizing one's support base under the SNTV: the case of Japanese koenkai. In Pekkanen, R (ed.), Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 500–531.Google Scholar
Carson, JL, Engstrom, EJ and Roberts, JM (2007) Candidate quality, the personal vote, and the incumbency advantage in congress. American Political Science Review 101, 289–301.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Catalinac, A (2016) From pork to policy: the rise of programmatic campaigning in Japanese elections. The Journal of Politics 78, 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, RV (1994) Electoral reform in Japan: how it was enacted and changes it may bring. Asian Survey 34, 589–605.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, R (2006) An analysis of the 2005 Japanese general election: will Koizumi's political reforms endure? Asian Survey 46, 497–516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, GW and Niou, E (1994) Seat bonuses under the single nontransferable vote system: Evidence from Japan and Taiwan. Comparative Politics 26, 221–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, GW, Rosenbluth, FM and Thies, MF (2000) Electoral rules, career ambitions, and party structure: comparing factions in Japan's upper and lower houses. American Journal of Political Science 44, 115–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiva, JH and Smith, DM (2018) Political dynasties and the incumbency advantage in party-centered environments. American Political Science Review 112, 706–712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickman, JC and Kim, CL (1992) Electoral advantage, malapportionment, and one party dominance in Japan. Asian Perspective 16, 5–25.Google Scholar
Hijino, KVL and Ishima, H (2021) Multi-level muddling: candidate strategies to ‘nationalize’ local elections. Electoral Studies 70, 102281.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Horiuchi, Y, Smith, DM and Yamamoto, T (2018) Measuring voters’ multidimensional policy preferences with conjoint analysis: application to Japan's 2014 election. Political Analysis 26, 190–209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iga, T (2014) Politics of regime change under the one-party dominant rule in Japan: lessons from the rise and fall of the Democratic Party of Japan. WILAYAH: The International Journal of East Asian Studies 3, 17–24.Google Scholar
Jacobson, GC (2005) Polarized politics and the 2004 congressional and presidential elections. Political Science Quarterly 120, 199–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jain, PC (1995) Electoral reform in Japan: its process and implications for party politics. The Journal of East Asian Affairs 9, 402–427.Google Scholar
Jou, W (2009) Electoral reform and party system development in Japan and Taiwan: a comparative study. Asian Survey 49, 759–785.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kabashima, I and Steel, G (2007) The Koizumi revolution. PS: Political Science and Politics 40, 79–84.Google Scholar
Kaihara, H (2010) A dawn of two-party system in Japanese politics?: the emergence of the Democratic Party of Japan. East Asia 27, 221–244.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamikawa, R (2016) The failure of the Democratic Party of Japan: the negative effects of the predominant party system. Social Science Japan Journal 19, 33–58.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kohno, M (1997) Voter turnout and strategic ticket-splitting under Japan's new electoral rules. Asian Survey 37, 429–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krauss, ES and Pekkanen, RJ (2011) The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krauss, ES and Pekkanen, R (2018) Explaining party adaptation to electoral reform: the discreet charm of the LDP?. In Pekkanen, R (ed.), Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 1212–1247.Google Scholar
Kushida, KE and Lipscy, PY (2013) The rise and fall of the Democratic Party of Japan. In Kushida, KE and Lipscy, PY (eds), Japan under the DPJ: The Politics of Transition and Governance. Stanford, CA: Shorenstein Asia-Pacfic Research Center, pp. 3–42.Google Scholar
McElwain, KM (2012) The nationalization of Japanese elections. Journal of East Asian Studies 12, 323–350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McElwain, KM (2018) Manipulating electoral rules to manufacture single-party dominance. In Pekkanen, R (ed.), Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 430–459.Google Scholar
McKean, M and Scheiner, E (2000) Japan's new electoral system: la plus ça change. Electoral Studies 19, 447–477.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mishima, K (2018) Grading Japanese prime minister Koizumi's revolution: how far has the LDP's policymaking changed? In Pekkanen R (ed.), Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party in Japan. Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, pp. 1557–1578.Google Scholar
Nihon Saiken Inishiatibu (2013) Minshutõ seiken: Shippai no kenshõ [The DPJ Government: An Examination of Failure]. Tokyo: Chuokoron Shi.Google Scholar
Noble, GW (2010) The decline of particularism in Japanese politics. Journal of East Asian Studies 10, 239–274.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, SR (2005) Japan: haltingly toward a two-party system. In Gallagher, M and Mitchell, P (eds), The Politics of Electoral Systems. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, pp. 277–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, SR (2007) Duverger's law is working in Japan. Japanese Journal of Electoral Studies 22, 96–106.Google Scholar
Reed, SR (2009) Party strategy or candidate strategy: how does the LDP run the right number of candidates in Japan's multi-member districts? Party Politics 15, 295–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, SR, Scheiner, E and Thies, MF (2012) The end of LDP dominance and the rise of party-oriented politics in Japan. The Journal of Japanese Studies 38, 353–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richardson, BM (1997) Japanese Democracy: Power, Coordination, and Performance. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Rosenbluth, FM and Thies, MF (2010) Japan Transformed. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheiner, E (2005) Pipelines of pork: Japanese politics and a model of local opposition party failure. Comparative Political Studies 38, 799–823.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheiner, E (2006) Democracy without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in A One-Party Dominant State. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shinoda, T (2013) Contemporary Japanese Politics: Institutional Changes and Power Shifts. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Smith, DM (2018) Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan. Stanford, CA: Stanford University PressGoogle Scholar
Smith, DM and Reed, SR (2018) The Reed-Smith Japanese House of Representatives Elections Dataset. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/QFEPXD, Harvard Dataverse, V1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Taniguchi, M and Asahi Shimbun, (2022) The University of Tokyo-Asahi Survey.Google Scholar
Thies, MF (2002) Changing how the Japanese vote: the promise and pitfalls of the 1994 electoral reform. In Hsieh, JF and Newman, D (eds), How Asia Votes. Sage Publications, pp. 92–117.Google Scholar
Tsutsumi, H and Uekami, T (2003) Party Policy Coherence in Japan: Evidence from 2003 Candidate-Level Electoral Platform.Google Scholar
Uekami, T and Tsutsumi, H (2019) Inverse relationship between party and party system institutionalization: the transformation of postwar Japanese party politics. In Harmel, R and Svåsand, L (eds), Institutionalisation of Political Parties: Comparative Cases. London: Rowman & Littlefield International, pp. 111–131.Google Scholar
Wada, J (2003) The Japanese Election System: Three Analytical Perspectives. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wooldridge, JM (2010) Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Yokoyama, T and Kobayashi, T (2019) Pitting prime minister cues with party cues in a multiparty system: a survey experiment in Japan. Japanese Journal of Political Science 20, 93–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar