Liberal Democratic Party (Japan)

The Liberal Democratic Party (自由民主党) is the dominant political power of modern Japan. It is generally categorized as center-right in terms of ideology, but leadership has vacillated wildly over time; the LDP has served under the Japan Socialist Party in a coalition government, but has also has been led by historical revisionists.

Formation

The LDP formed in 1955 as a merger between the Liberal Party (自由党) and the Japan Democratic Party (日本民主党).

LDP politicians made extensive use of koenkai (後援会) for campaign finance and voter mobilization. LDP leadership would attempt to subsume these organizations multiple times, but early attempts failed due to factionalism. Over time koenkai became vertically-integrated political machines, especially within the LDP.

Government

The JSP served as the opposition throughout.

First Loss of Power

1993 General Election

In the August 1993 general election, in the context of the stagflating economy and the Recruit scandal, the LDP lost enough seats for a grand coalition government to form. Morihiro Hosokawa (細川 護煕) led this government for 8 months, following which Tsutomu Hata (羽田 孜) led for 2 months.

Coalition Government

The government fell in June when the LDP and the JSP joined to form a new coalition. JSP chairman Tomiichi Murayama (村山 富市) served as prime minister for 2 years. The coalition was highly unpopular among leftist voters, leading to a ruinous loss of seats in the 1995 House of Councillors election and the subsequent October 1996 general elections. Murayama resigned in January 1996, handing power back to the LDP under Ryutaro Hashimoto (橋本 龍太郎).

After the 1996 general election, the JSP was dropped from the coalition entirely. With the New Frontier Party now serving as the opposition, the JSP entered a decline from which they have never recovered.

First Return to Power

Coalition Leadership

Prime Minister Hashimoto led the coalition government going into the 1996 general election. The JSP was dropped from the coalition, to be replaced by . In 1999, Komeito join the coalition as well.

Keizo Obuchi (小渕 恵三) won the next leadership contest in 1998, but died just 2 years into his term. Yoshiro Mori (森 喜朗) succeeded him. His government was marred by scandals, innumerable gaffes, and mass unpopularity. While narrowly surviving a leadership coup in November 2000, he was forced to resign in April 2001. Secretary General Hiromu Nonaka (野中 廣務), who was largely responsible for quashing the coup, as well as the coup leaders, Koichi Kato (加藤 紘一) and Taku Yamasaki (山崎 拓), suffered reputational damage from the affair.

Koizumi Era

When the LDP lost power in 1994, a reformist faction called Shinseiki of the LDP formed. They rapidly gained influence during the Mori government. While Kato and Yamasaki gambled (and lost) on a leadership coup in 2000, the movement was well positioned for the April 2001 leadership contest. Junichiro Koizumi (小泉 純一郎) defeated former prime minister Hashimoto overwhelmingly. His initiatives were more popular among voters than among the LDP majority in the Diet.

In 2005, Koizumi began pushing for the privatization and breakup of Japan Post (日本郵政公社). While the threat of calling a snap election successfully whipped the House of Representatives, the House of Councilors saw a rebellion. Koizumi announced that the bill's vote would be recognized as a vote of no confidence. 30 members of the LDP abstained, and the Diet was dissolved in August. (See Japan/Diet for notes on the structure of Japan's legislature.)

In the September 2005 general election, the LDP won an outright majority; the coalition government held a two-thirds majority in the House of Representatives. The Japan Post reforms passed in 2007.

Second Loss of Power

In September 2006, at the end of his party leadership term, Koizumi resigned as prime minister. He remained a member of the Diet until the 2009 general election, when his son Shinjiro won the seat.

Shinzo Abe (安倍 晋三) won the subsequent leadership contest. A member of the nationalist Japan Conference (日本会議), Abe shifted Japan's foreign policy towards confrontation of North Korea. He restructured the Defense Agency into the cabinet-level Ministry of Defense, the first military ministry since 1945.

Abe consistently feuded with news broadcasters and newpapers. He has been credibly accused of censoring NHK news reports. His conservative views on the succession crisis also alienated the general public. In the context of deteriorating health and losing the majority in the July 2007 House of Councilors election, he resigned in September 2007.

Second Return to Power

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