Opposition in Japan

Résumé du document

In Japanese, the opposition is known as 'mannen yatou', or 'one thousand year opposition party'. As this phrase testifies, there is a structural incapacity of the opposition parties to get into power. It refers to all the political parties that are not in power, that is to say, every party except the Liberal Democrats or LDP. To be more precise, it refers to the Japanese Socialist Party, the Democratic Socialist Party, the Komeito (centre party), and the Japan Communist Party. 1947-1948 was the only period before 1993, when a coalition cabinet was made of Socialist, Democrats, and Cooperative party ministers, lead by the leader of the JSP, Katayama Tetsu. Therefore the LDP maintained its political majority in the Lower House for more than forty five years in a row. Only in 1993 did a non-LDP coalition came in power in the Lower House under Prime Minister Hosokawa. Made up of eight parties, the coalition stayed in power for ten months and eleven days.

Extraits

[...] The Tokyo governor election in 1991 is also a good example of their lack of strategy: while the conservatives were divided on whom to put forward as a candidate, for the LDP was unhappy with Suzuki, the former candidate, no doubt a strong JSP candidate could have won the post, however the JSP was unable to be effective and to choose a candidate quickly?[34].In the end the LDP finally won the seat. However, the Japanese opposition has been so week that one has to ask whether the opposition has ever had any other political sense that the one of LDP opponent. Can we talk of a neutral opposition? [...]

[...] Opposition parties did not make the most of these changes at all. In the sixties, the socialists retained an ideological platform on defence and labour issues very far from the median left wing voter[26]. Unlike the German Social Democratic Party that adopted a more centrist platform in 1959, the Japanese Socialist clung to a very rigid Marxist doctrine. Only in 1986 did the JSP reformed itself, abandoning its former platform for social Democracy. A 1992 Yoriumi poll revealed that 34% of the persons questioned thought the JSP has suffered an unprecedented defeat in 1993 because their policy was unrealistic[27].Therefore they did not understand two major events had shaken the politics of Japan: the end of the Cold War and the onset of the Gulf War. [...]

[...] Moreover, the opposition is still very divided. If we look at the 2004 Upper House Election or at the 2005 Lower House election, we can see in both cases the LDP has a strong majority, overwhelming the main four opposition parties totally crushed, with in seats for LDP seats for the JCP seats for the SDP and about 25 seats for the other independent[47]. The Japanese system still need to be reformed, however we may wonder what could be the possible forces that could challenge Japan's stillness. [...]

[...] Hyde, chapter 5 Ibid p.85 S. Hyde, chapter 5 J.A.A Stockwin, Japan: Divided Politics in a Growth Economy, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London p.187 M Ramseyer, F. McCall Rosenbluth, Japan's political Marketplace, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, p S.Hyde, chapter 3 S.Hyde, chapter if 70% of the population supported article 9 in 1982, in were in favour of the PKO bill vs 41% against: states of mind were changing. Ibid 19, p Scalapino and Masumi, Parties and Politics in Contemporary Japan, University of California Press, London p.54 J.A.A Stockwin, Japan: Divided Politics in a Growth Economy, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, London p.181 Ibid P.85 Ibid 19, p.43 Ibid p.86 S.Hyde, chapter 5 S.Hyde, chapter 5 S. [...]

[...] However, the irony of the divided opposition is to have managed to fulfil its first and main goal despite its constant divisions: they have succeed to prevent the revision of the Constitution despite their weakness and the political force of the LDP. Therefore the opposition parties have to be seen as a brake for change rather than anything else for they prevent changes without proposing anything else instead. It makes no doubt the oppositions parties are responsible for their own incapacity to get into power. Therefore, we should wonder to what extent have they win the 1993 election. [...]