POLI/INTL 355, Review 2, Spring 2007
Bill Newmann
Is
Can Japan
change?
I. Political Culture and Political
Development
A.
History
B.
Culture/Political Culture
C.
Foreign influence
Themes in Japanese political culture:
1. *Homogeneity
*unity
exceptions:
Koreans
in
burakumin
status of women
2. uniqueness
*educating
people to be Japanese
3. isolation
4. borrowing
5. geography
relationship of geography to Japanese independence (never
experiencing colonialism)
*6. communitarian
rice growing and community
crowding
7. adaptability/organizational
ability
8. emperor
9. power
behind the scenes
*lack of confrontation
Political History:
1. Growth of Feudal
centralization of government
Feudal
Shogun
Samurai
culture--loyalty, self sacrifice
Tokugawa family unifies
2. Tokugawa era:
unification
isolation
3. Meiji Restoration
Birth of modern
A restoration and revolution
1853:
Trade Treaties
*Effect on Tokugawa control
*1868 -- overthrow
Restoration
of Emperor
"Honor
the emperor and expel the barbarians"
Genro
Nationalism
Conscious borrowing
Meiji era reforms
1889 constitution
Diet
Genro role
Meiji-era economic reforms
Military reforms
Sino-Japanese War 1894-5
Russo-Japanese War 1904-5
4. Nationalism and War:
Genro factionalism in the Government,
Diet, and Military
Depression
nationalism
Nationalists vs. Institutionalists
Expansion and the reasons why
Into the rest of
Greater East-Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere
Atrocities
Rape
of
Hiroshima/Nagasaki
End of WW II
II. Actors and Processes
A. Government Structure
*Gen. Douglas MacArthur
*SCAP
Punishment
Demilitarization
*Article
9
1946 Constitution
Emperor: Post-war position
Diet
House
of Councillors
House
of Representatives
Single-member
districts
Proportional
representation
Prime Minister
Electing
Prime Ministers
PM dissolving Diet
No-Confidence
votes
New
PM without election (resignation of PM)
Cabinet
Ministries
The power of the bureaucracy and why
Iron Triangle
B. Political parties
The "1955 System"
Liberal-Democratic Party
LDP
Factions
Why
does the LDP dominate?
*LDP
and construction politics
Social Democratic Party of
Consensus Politics
One and Half Party System
III. Public Policy
A.
Economics/State/Business/Bureaucracy Roles and Relationships
B.
Political Stability and Economic Growth
General descriptions of the Japanese
economy (“Japan Inc.”)
1. A miracle
2. A model
3. Nationalist/protectionist
the use of trade barriers by
Japanese government
Specific Descriptions of the “Japan
Inc.”
1. Business-Government relations
Yoshida Doctrine
*"administrative guidance"
*goal of government-business
partnership
*Ministry of International Trade and
Industry (MITI)
its policies
2. Industry-Industry relations
zaibatsu
Keiretsu
loyalty to keiretsu/group identification
Why
create keiretsu?
Keiretsu
as a trade barrier
3. Human Resources/Labor-Management
Relations
Crushing of independent unions
Company unions
Lifetime employment
Success of Japan Inc.
Problems:
Inflexibility
Layoffs?
Entrepreneurship?
Keiretsu and flexibility
Iron Triangle
Protectionism
Recent Politics and Economics:
Recession
Change in 1955 system
SDPJ
crushed
DPJ
Shift
in Japanese political spectrum to the right
LDP still in power
PM Koizumi
LDP
reform factions vs. LDP anti-reform factions vs. DPJ (ex-LDP)
1980s-present:
scandals
collapse of bubble economy
political debates of 1990s
opening up the economy
lifestyle superpower
role in world politics
Events of 1992-1993
More scandals
Electoral reform bill
1993 election
Not-LDP coalition
Its
policies
PM Hosokawa Morihiro
Fate of LDP
Fate of SDPJ
Collapse of Not-LDP coalition/LDP
back in power
What has changed?
Electoral reform passed
Two party system?
New
Frontier Party
Democratic
Party of
1996 and 2000 elections (success of
NFP and DPJ)
LDP challenged by opposition:
opposition failed to bring down LDP
Challenging the LDP from within:
Election of Koizumi Junichiro
LDP reforms its selection process for
President – more democratic
Koizumi’s reform plans
breaking the iron triangle
Opponents of reform
LDP anti-reform faction bosses
Iron Triangle/Bureaucracy
November 2003 election: Koizumi does
well, but not too well
DPJ does well: picks up seats
2005
Postal reform bill is defeated
Koizumi calls elections
Postal rebels vs. assassins
The political stakes
1.
policy
referendum
2.
public
vs. iron triangle
3.
institutional
battle
4.
LDP
“civil war”
5.
Koizumi’s
future
6.
DPJ
– a role to play?
Election results
Postal reforms passes
A revolution?
Abe Shinzo and
Nationalist resurgence