The Evolution of Japan's Party System : : Politics and Policy in an Era of Institutional Change / / Leonard J. Schoppa.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Asian Studies Backlist (2000-2014) eBook Package
• VerfasserIn: Schoppa, Leonard J. ,
• MitwirkendeR: Iriye, Akira,; MacLachlan, Patricia L.,; Martin, Sherry L.,; Miura, Mari,; Reed, Steven R.,; Schoppa, Leonard J.,; Tanaka, Aiji,; Toyoda, A. Maria,; Weiner, Robert J.,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2017]; ©2011
• Year of Publication: 2017
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (256 p.) :; 12 figures

In August 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won a crushing victory over the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), thus bringing to an end over fifty years of one-party dominance. Around the world, the victory of the DPJ was seen as a radical break with Japan's past. However, this dramatic political shift was not as sudden as it appeared, but rather the culmination of a series of changes first set in motion in the early 1990s.The Evolution of Japan's Party System analyses the transition by examining both party politics and public policy. Arguing that these political changes were evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the essays in this volume discuss how older parties such as the LDP and the Japan Socialist Party failed to adapt to the new policy environment of the 1990s. Taken as a whole, The Evolution of Japan's Party System provides a unique look at party politics in Japan, bringing them into a comparative conversation that usually focuses on Europe and North America.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- 1. Introduction: From the 1955 System to the '2000 System' -- 2. Path Dependence in the Evolution of Japan's Party System since 1993 -- 3. The Evolution of the LDP's Electoral Strategy: Towards a More Coherent Political Party -- 4. The Evolution of the DPJ: Two Steps Forward, One Step Back -- 5. Issue Evolution and Electoral Politics in Contemporary Japan -- 6. Ideas, Interests, and Institutions: Japanese Postal Privatization in Comparative Perspective -- 7. Reforming Government Financial Institutions -- 8. The Impact of Two-Party Competition on Neoliberal Reform and Labour Unions in Japan -- 9. Conclusion: The Evolutionary Dance Continues with the DPJ Victory in 2009 -- Bibliography -- Contributors -- Index