Role of Political Parties in Japan - Essay Example

Role of Political Parties in Japan INTRODUCTION: Japan is an Island country which consists of four major and thousands of small islands. It has anarea of 377, 835 square kilometers. Its neighboring countries include Russia on the north and South Korea on the west. The country is covered mostly by mountains and hills and as such faces serious problems with volcanic eruptions and earth quakes. Buddhism and Shintoism are practiced by the majority of the Japanese people. It is considered as one of the most densely populated countries of the world having a population of approximately 127.6 million in 2003. Japan supports monarchy along with parliamentary form of government. The emperor is just the rubber stamp and has very little powers. The Diet consists of the House of Representatives and the House of Councellors. The Diet has the power to make laws. The real power lies with the Prime Minister, who acts as the head of the parliament and is supported by the majority of the Diet members (Fact sheet, 2007). Unlike the USA and the United Kingdom, Japan has seen many political changes ever since the emergence of the political parties. In this paper I aim to discuss the political parties in Japan. I intend to briefly discuss their historical back ground and their role in the Japanese political system. Towards the end I will discuss in detail the role of the ruling and the opposition parties and the significant impact they make on the Japanese political system. POLITICAL SYSTEM OF JAPAN: The Japanese political system has been subject to various political changes since the time the constitutional government has emerged. Political Parties emerged in Japan after the Meiji restoration in 1868. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (2007) after 1868 a number of political parties emerged and some of them did get some share in forming the government. According to Hayes (2007) the first political party was founded in 1874 and the second one in 1882. The first party was called “Liberal Party’ and the second one kept on changing its name and finally settled as the Democratic Party. As stated in Encyclopedia Britannica (2007) there was a period of inactivity among political parties in the 1930s and 40s due to the war. However total liberty for the formation of political parties was given after the promulgation of the 1947 constitution. Strict rules were followed and any organization which expressed its wish to nominate a person for political posts was to be registered as a political party. As such Japan saw thousands of political parties out of which only a few managed to get a place in the spot light. At present there are five major political parties in Japan. The most famous ones include: Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – having conservative and pro business policies. This party has dominated the Japanese political system since the second half of the twentieth century. Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan) – It is stated on the website of Japan Zone (2007) that the party was originally formed in 1947 and got its share in the coalition government with the JSP and the People’s Cooperative Party. The party could not last long and was dissolved due to the involvement of the Prime Minister Ashida Hitoshi in a bribery scandal. The party was dissolved in 1950. In 1996 the party again gained its place in the spotlight as a reform party with the efforts of Kan Naoto, Hatoyama Yukio and Kuino. Currently the party is headed by Ozawa Ichiro. Japan Communist Party (JCP or Nihon Kyosanto) – According to the Japan Zone (2007) the party was formed in 1922 but gained criticism and became unpopular after its involvement in some terrorist activities. Under the guidance of Nosaka Sanzo and Miamoto Kenji the party reshaped its policies and once again gained popularity. It supports the basic policy of peaceful transition to Socialism. The party also strongly supports the return of Russian occupied territories. Social Democratic Party of Japan (SDPJ or Shakai Minshuto) – According to the Encyclopedia Britannica (2007) the party was previously called the Japan Socialist Party and has emerged as the main opposition party in Japan. The party gathers its strength from the labor unions and people living in the metropolitan cities. New Komeito (Clean Government Party) – As stated by the Encyclopedia Britannica (2007) it is also one of the important political parties of Japan. This party gathers its support from the religious group called Soka Gakkai although the group has renounced any links with this party. THE RISE OF THE POLITICAL PARTIES IN JAPAN: In the book titled “Meiji Japan” Duus (2007) gives us a detailed account of the growth of the political parties in Japan. The political parties in Japan began to grow with the rise of the freedom and popular movement “Jiyuminken” in 1870s and 1880. The process led to the development of strong political parties such as Seiyukai and Minseito in the 1920s. The parties formed under the guidance of Jiyuminken were not politically strong and were formed more as a rebellion against the Meiji government. They had no role in the policies of the government and had no constitutional right to express their disapproval of any government policy. They were more like ‘parties in preparation” having the right to speak but not to act. They had no political motives to gain power and were united on a single motive of protesting against the government. The members of such political parties were not those having leadership qualities. They rather included such people such as “frustrated samurais” who could not find any place in the bureaucracy, former government employees who separated themselves with their colleagues on various differences, and intellectuals who believed that the authoritarian government was not right and rural members who were against the government policies. These people were more interested in protesting against the government rather than gaining power. Since these members were not interested in political power their policies of protest included education and agitation. Majority of the members adopted the method of organizing petitions, distributing pamphlets, publishing newspapers and journals and organizing “speaking tours’ all over the country convincing people to protest against the government. These parties had no disciplinary powers, fund raising machinery and had very loose ties with the prominent national leaders. Moreover these parties lacked internal unity due to which they continued to fall apart with the passage of time. The change came with the promulgation of the Meiji constitution and the formation of the Diet in 1890. This was the first time when the parties were given a central nucleus to organize themselves into proper political parties. They had the right to express their views regarding the policies of the government. The 1890s decade brought the organizations within the walls of the parliament. The 1900s saw the rise of the political parties as an essential part of the political system. Members supporting the previous method of protest and agitation were no longer considered important. Having “strategic political connections” and “strong electoral base” became an important strategy of the political parties. This further strengthened the political parties, their tactics, leaders and the members. The party tactics included abandonment of the old methods and aligning with the government members. There was also a change in the party leadership. Those who continued with the previous tactics of protest were no longer important. They were rather replaced by successful people usually businessmen, journalists and bureaucrats. With strong leadership the political parties became stronger. By 1920s the experienced people had dominated the membership of the political parties as compared to the 1890s. In 1890s nearly half of the Diet members were under 40 whereas in 1920 more than half of the members were over 50. This process of transformation led to the rise of many political parties whose presence in the Japanese political system has become inevitable even today. Now we take a look in detail at the political parties in Japan. LIBERAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY: The website of the Liberal Democratic Party gives a detail account of the history of the party itself. Liberal Democratic Party is the present the ruling party in Japan. It came into existence after the merger of several liberal and democratic parties on November 15, 1955. The party had 298 seats in the House of Representatives and 115 seats in the House of Councilors. The party’s philosophy is quoted below: “In establishing this Party, our primary political goal is to pursue mainstream parliamentary politics. We therefore reject all forces and ideologies that promote the use of violence, revolution, or dictatorship as political instruments. In addition, we affirm that respect for individual rights and dignity is the most basic premise of social order and adamantly oppose the imposition of dictatorship or class ideology by force.” The party won its first general elections in 1955 and thus formed a conservative government with a heavy mandate. The party continued to hold majority till 1993. In 1955 the main aim of the LDP was to strengthen the foreign affairs of Japan. It worked hard to make Japan a member of the United Nations and minimizing tension with the Soviet Union. LDP successfully contested all the elections held in the 1950s and managed to form government with great majority. On various occasions the American Intelligence Agency CIA spent millions of dollars to influence the Japanese elections in favor of the LDP against the leftist socialist and communist parties. The party broke into several small factions in 1976 when some of its members parted themselves from LDP on the basis of the Lockheed bribery scandal. However the members were again united after a decade. According to Wikipedia (2007) in the late 1970s the party was under immense internal and external pressure to switch its diplomatic ties from the Republic of China to the Peoples Republic of China. However Japan owes a lot to LDP for increasing the economic growth especially during the 1980s. Under the guidance of LDP, Japan also played an important role in ending the cold war. The basic strength of LDP is “coalition of big business, small business, agriculture, professional groups, and other interests.” For this reason the party continued to rule with success for nearly four decades. Party policies were drafted and implemented with the consultation by the elite bureaucrats. Thus the party continued to collect votes under the guidance of expert bureaucrats. This process, on the other hand, resulted in the rise of corruption. At the same time it also made Japan economically stable and successful in the international market. In 1993 the party lost its elections on various bases such as the Recruit scandal etc. This brought an end to the four decades of success. Several opposition parties joined together to form a government under the banner of liberal Japan Renewal Party. In 1994 two political parties, Socialist and Sakigaki parted with the coalition government and decided to join LDP in the opposition. This however did not work as the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) decided to join hands with the LDP in the formation of the coalition government. Thus LDP was once again in power but at the same time it agreed to give the premiership to the JSP (Wikipedia, 2007). In 1998 the party once again dominated the political scene and emerged as the majority party in power. There was no opposition for the party until 1998 when the Democratic Party of Japan came into existence. Since then opposition has been giving a real tough time to the LDP especially in the 2003 and 2004 elections. The results of 2003 elections showed the LDP winning 237 seats as compared to the 177 won by the DPJ. The same close encounter was witnessed in the 2004 elections of the House of Councilors where LDP won 49 seats and DJP won 50. In all the LDP had 114 seats. This loss forced the Secretary General Shinzo Abe to resign and was replaced by Tsutomu Takebe. On November 10, 2003 the New Conservative Party merged with the LDP. The merger was due to the poor performance of the New Conservative Party in the 2003 elections. At present LDP forms a coalition government with the conservative Buddhist Party called New Komeito. The party President is the current Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Former Prime Minister Koizumi was also a member of the LDP. Until July 29, 2007 the party continued to enjoy its majority in both the houses of the Diet after which it lost its majority in the Upper House. In September 2007 the party elected its new president, Yasuo Fukuda. Another candidate Taro Aso showed his interest for premier ship. However Fukuda is supported by important party members such as Machimura, Koizumi and Nukaga. Shinzo Abe will continue to hold the office of Prime Minister until his successor is announced by the party. One of the scholars had commented in 1969 which has appeared quite true so far. He stated, “The present LDP seems fairly certain to rule for some time to come (quoted by Hayes, 2007).” Basic Principles: The party began its work with a pledge to increase economic growth through exports, becoming an ally of the United States for defense and foreign policies, administrative reforms which included streamlining the government institutions, privatization of the state owned companies and other tax reforms. More recent policies in the 1990s included finding an important position for Japan in the Asia Pacific, internationalizing economy through liberalization and promoting domestic demand, information technology and scientific research. DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF JAPAN- THE CURRENT OPPOSITION PARTY: According to Wikipedia (2007) the DPJ came into existence in 1998 after the merger of several parties. It is the largest opposition party in Japan and holds its second largest majority in the House of Representatives. In the House of Councilors DJP is the largest party. The party gained a significant position in the 2001 and 2002 general elections. Its merger with the central right liberal party on September 24, 2003 gave it eight more seats in the House of Councilors. The gradual process of success continued and in 2004 elections of the House of Councilors the party managed to get one seat more than the Liberal Democratic Party. This however was a big blow to the LDP since this was the first time that the ruling party had got votes less than any other party in contest. 2005 elections were a big blow to the gaining popularity of the DPJ. DPJ were looking forward to winning the elections against the LDP. However, the results showed that DPJ had lost 62 seats to the ruling LDP. The party president Okada resigned as promised on not gaining majority in the Diet. He was succeeded by Seiji Maehara in September 2005. Maehare did not last long and had to resign on various issues. He was succeeded by Ichro Ozawa in 2006. The 2007 elections to the House of Representatives showed promising results for the DPJ. The party had won 60 seats out of a total of 121 contested seats. This was the first time that LDP had lost its majority in the upper house. NEW KOMEITO: New Komeito was formed by some of the representatives of the House of Councilors. The party along with LDP and the Liberal Party formed a coalition government in October 1999. The three parties also agreed to cooperation on issues of policy making (Hayes, 2007). New Komeito is the third largest political party in Japan and is more commonly called “Party for ordinary people”. The party has played an important role on various policy matters such as tax reimbursement, in the form of certificates of worth 700 billion yen to children under 15 years of age and low income disabled people with low income. On the request of LDP, New Komeito agreed to form a coalition government with LDP on July 7th 1999. On October 5th, 1999 a New Komeito member Mr. Tsuzuki was appointed as Director General of Administrative Affairs in the Prime Minister’s office. Since 1999 the party has shown its presence in the cabinet as well. Currently New Komeito has 31 House of Councilors members and 21 local assembly members. In all New Komeito have 3103 members. The Chief Representative of New Komeito is Akihiro Ota who is also a member of the House of Representatives. Kanzaki (1998) lists other minor opposition parties which include The Japan New Party, The Democratic Socialist Party, and The Japan Renewal Party etc. According to Hayes (2007) the party system in Japan is believed to consist of “One and a half parties”. The opposition parties are not that strong when facing the LDP. The reason for the dominance of the LDP and the weakness of other opposition parties lies in the fact that LDP has good control over the Japanese affairs. LDP has always brought good fortune to the country and has helped Japan expand its economy. None of the opposition parties can claim the responsibility of this prosperity and for this reason they have not been able to attract voters. Another reason for the non competitiveness of the opposition parties is their nature. Opposition parties are relying on the anachronistic ideologies for getting into power. Such ideologies do not appeal to the people and at the same time it brings about internal weakness among the parties. In conclusion political system in Japan is based on the leadership provided by the Liberal Democratic Party and the opposition by other parties. Japan owes its success to the policies adopted by the LDP. Indeed LDP has made Japan an economic success on the map of the world. Today Japan is an important member of all the important organizations of the world. Its worth is valued all over and it is all due to the successful policies of the LDP. Other opposition parties have to work hard to bring about a real change in the Japanese political system. REFERENCES Duus, P. “The Growth of Party Respectability” in Meiji Japan, Political, Economic and Social History, 1868-1912 by Korniki, Routledge Publishers, (2007), Pg. 97-110. Hayes, L. D. “Political Parties II”, Introduction to Japanese Politics”, Fourth Edition, M.E. Sharpe Publisher. (2007). Pg. 89-104. "Japan." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, Retrieved on November 26, 2007 form http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-23290 “Japan Fact Sheet”, Web Japan, Retrieved on November 26, 2007 form http://web-japan.org/factsheet/ Kanzaki, “Political Parties in Japan: 1874-1998”, Updated on July 14, 1998. Retrieved on November 26, 2007 form http://www.kanzaki.com/jinfo/PoliticalParties.html “Liberal Democratic Party of Japan”, Official Website, Updated on September 26, 2007. , Retrieved on November 26, 2007 form http://www.jimin.jp/jimin/english/ “Liberal Democratic Party”, Wikipedia the Free Encyclopedia, Retrieved on November 26, 2007 form http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liberal_Democratic_Party_(Japan) “New Komeito”, Official Website, Retrieved on November 26, 2007 form http://www.komei.or.jp/en/about/basic.html “Political Parties”, Japan Zone, Retrieved on November 26, 2007 form Retrieved on November 26, 2007 form http://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/political_party.shtml Read More