The Democratic Party of Japan in Power ― Challenges and Failures

When the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) came to power in September 2009, Japanese citizens expected the imminent arrival of a new political era, characterized by a two-party system. However, in addition to the triple disasters of March 2011, the DPJ faced numerous difficulties arising from its controversial policies and massive party defections following the government’s consumption tax hike legislation. The DPJ fell from power following a crushing defeat in the 2012 Lower House election, in which its seat total was drastically reduced.

This book examines the September 2009-December 2012 administration of the DPJ from various perspectives, including policies, party governance, management and legacy. It identifies the significance of the DPJ to Japan’s party politics, explains the reasons for its downfall, and derives crucial lessons for the future of party democracy in Japan. The contributors, a team of professional academics and a lawyer, analyse the policies and events of the DPJ administration based on their interviews with key DPJ politicians and related persons at or close to the centre of the administration. Together they elicit insights from the experiences of the DPJ government to inform the expectations of Japan’s party democracy.

Explaining how the failure of the DPJ government has long-term importance for understanding Japanese politics, this book will be invaluable for students and scholars of this field of study.

Koichi Nakano is Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, Japan. He specializes in the comparative politics of advanced industrial democracies, particularly Japan and Europe, and in political theory. He has a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Tokyo, a second B.A. in philosophy and politics from the University of Oxford, and an M.A. and a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University. His research has focused on a variety of issues of contemporary Japanese politics from comparative, historical, and philosophical perspectives, including neoliberal globalization and nationalism; the Yasukuni issue; amakudari and administrative reform in Japan; decentralization; the cross-national transfer of policy ideas; and the changing nature of conservatism in postwar Japan. In English, he has published articles in The Journal of Japanese Studies, Asian Survey, The Pacific Review, West European Politics, Governance, and a single-authored book entitled Party Politics and Decentralization in Japan and France: When the Opposition Governs (Routledge, 2010) among others. In Japanese, his publication includes Sengo Nihon no Kokka Hoshushugi: Naimu/Jichi Kanryo no Kiseki (Postwar State Conservatism in Japan: A Study of the Bureaucrats of the Ministry of Home Affairs) (Iwanami Shoten, 2013).