Electoral Reform And National Security In Japan

This book argues that Japanese politicians pay more attention to security issues nowadays because of the electoral reform.

Japan is the third-largest economy in the world and a key ally of the United States. Yet the determinants of Japanese security policy are not well understood. The question of why Japan never sought the independent military capabilities that would be commensurate with its economic power has puzzled scholars of international relations for decades. Applying new tools for the quantitative analysis of text to a new collection of 7,497 Japanese-language election manifestos used in elections between 1986 and 2009, this book argues that the electoral strategies politicians in the ruling party were forced to adopt under Japan's old electoral system made it extraordinarily difficult for them to focus on security issues and to change security policy. It was only when their electoral strategies shifted after electoral reform in 1994 that these same politicians became able to pay attention and change security policy.

Elections lie at the heart of democracy, and this book seeks to understand how the rules governing those elections are chosen. Drawing on both broad comparisons and detailed case studies, it focuses upon the electoral rules that govern what sorts of preferences voters can express and how votes translate into seats in a legislature. Through detailed examination of electoral reform politics in four countries (France, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand), Alan Renwick shows how major electoral system changes in established democracies occur through two contrasting types of reform process. Renwick rejects the simple view that electoral systems always straightforwardly reflect the interests of the politicians in power. Politicians' motivations are complex; politicians are sometimes unable to pursue reforms they want; occasionally, they are forced to accept reforms they oppose. The Politics of Electoral Reform shows how voters and reform activists can have real power over electoral reform.

The Brill Critical Readings on the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan collects seminal scholarship on the LDP including its structure and organization (e.g. factions, koenkai), historical development, policy-making, and leadership by Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe.

This book investigates Japanese politics in the postwar era from theoretical and comparative perspectives. After providing historical context, it offers an in-depth exploration of postwar political institutions, political reform in the 1990s, the policymaking process, and the politics of economic growth and stagnation. The author draws attention to key policy issues including women and work, immigration, Japanese aging/low fertility society, and Constitutional revision. By delving into Japan’s international relations, the book sheds light on Japan’s security and trade policies, Japan’s role in the Asian region, and Japan’s bilateral relations with the U.S., China, South Korea, and the EU. Themes and questions addressed throughout the text include: How and why did Japan modernize so successfully when so many other countries fell prey to colonialism and authoritarianism? What explains the Japanese economic miracle and its subsequent economic stagnation? What accounts for Japan’s successful democratization? In the international realm, why has Japan achieved economic superpower status without achieving political superpower status? What has or has not changed since the historic election of the Democratic Party of Japan in 2009, and why? What is the future trajectory of Japanese politics? Connecting Japan to larger themes in comparative politics and linking Japan’s history, institutions, policymaking process, and international relations to experiences and structures in other countries, this book is essential reading for any course on Japanese or Asian Politics.

Explains how the persistence of party institutions (factions, PARC, koenkai) and the transformed role of party leadership in Japan contributed both to the LDP's success at remaining in power for 15 years and its downfall.

Explores the politics and economics of the Abe government and evaluates major policies, such as Abenomics policy reforms.

Recommends practical ways in which the United States and Japan can support democratic development in countries that are emerging from autocratic regimes and those that have achieved a measure of democracy, but are in danger of regressing.