Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T11:19:58.579Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Decline of Particularism in Japanese Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Gregory W. Noble
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Particularistic spending has played a storied role in Japanese politics, but during the last decade of LDP rule, expenditures on roads, bridges, agricultural projects, and the like steadily lost ground to more programmatic outlays on social welfare, science and technology, and public order (but not defense or foreign aid). Prime Minister Koizumi played an important role in this shift, but the trends preceded him and continued under his much weaker successors. The end of the Cold War, increasing foreign investment, and the weakness of the domestic economy probably played mostly minor roles in the decline of particularism. The aging of Japanese society, not least in rural areas, created direct pressure for programmatic spending, while partisan upheaval, the growing share of floating voters, and reforms to the electoral and administrative systems created both an incentive and a greater capacity to redirect attention to the concerns of median voters.

Keywords

JapanLiberal Democratic Partybudgetparticularisminfrastructurepublic workselectoral reform
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , August 2010 , pp. 239 - 274
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

References

Calder, Kent. 1988. Crisis and Compensation: Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan, 1949–1986. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, John Creighton. 1992. How Policies Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Carey, John M., and Shugart, Matthew Soberg. 1995. “Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: A Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas.” Electoral Studies 14, 4; 417–439.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clarke, Harold D., Sanders, David, Stewart, Marianne C., and Whiteley, Paul F., eds. 2009. Performance Politics and the British Voter. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Curtis, Gerald L. 1988. The Japanese Way of Politics. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Democratic Party of Japan. 2009. “2009 Change of Government—The Democratic Party of Japan's Platform for Government: Putting People's Lives First.” Tokyo: Democratic Party of Japan.Google Scholar
Eda, Kenji. 2004. Koizumi Seiji no Shōtai: Ma no Kaikakusha ka, Kidai no Petenshi ka (The true character of Koizumi politics: Genuine reformer or singular confidence man). Tokyo: PHP.Google Scholar
Ellwood, John W., and Patashnik, Eric W. 1993. “In Praise of Pork.” The Public Interest 110: 19–33.Google Scholar
Estèvez-Abe, Margarita. 2008. Welfare and Capitalism in Postwar Japan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hamai, Koichi, and Ellis, Thomas. 2007. “Crime and Criminal Justice in Modern Japan: From Re-integrative Shaming to Popular Punitivism.” International Journal of the Sociology of Law 34: 157–178.Google Scholar
Hirose, Michisada. 1989. Seiji to Kane (Politics and money). Tokyo: Iwanami.Google Scholar
Hiwatari, Nobuhiro, and Miura, Mari, eds. 2002. Ryūdōki no Nihon seiji: 'Ushinawareta 10 nen'no Seijigaku teki Kenshō (Japanese politics in a period of fluidity: A political science analysis of the ‘lost decade’). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Horiuchi, Yusaku, and Saito, Jun. 2009. “Removing Boundaries to Lose Connections: Electoral Consequences of Local Government Reform in Japan.” Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association 67th Annual National Conference, Chicago, April 2.Google Scholar
Ihori, Toshihiro. 2008. 'Saishutsu no Muda'no Kenkyū (Research on ‘wasteful expenditures’). Tokyo: Nihon Keizai.Google Scholar
Ikeda, Atsuhiko. 2008. Zusetsu Nihon no Zaisei, Heisei 20 Nenban (Japan's public finances illustrated, 2008). Tokyo: Tōyō Keizai Shinpōsha.Google Scholar
Takashi, Inoguchi and Tomoaki, Iwai. 1987. ‘Zoku Giin’ no Kenkyū: Jimintō Seiken o Gyūjiru Shuyakutachi (Research on ‘policy tribes’: The leading actors who control the LDP government). Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha.Google Scholar
Institute of Social Science, University of Tokyo, ed. 2006. Ushinawareta 10 Nen o Koete (2): Koizumi Kaikaku e no Jidai (Beyond the lost decade (2): Toward the Koizumi reforms). Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Johnson, Chalmers. 1986. “Tanaka Kakuei, Structural Corruption, and the Advent of Machine Politics in Japan.” Journal of Japanese Studies 12, 1: 1–28.Google Scholar
Kabashima, Ikuo. 2004. Sengo Seiji no Kiseki: Jimintō Shisutemu no Keisei to Hen'yō (The trajectory of postwar politics: The formation and transformation of the LDP system). Tokyo: Iwanami.Google Scholar
Kamemoto, Kazuhiko. 2005. Kōkyō Jigyō no Sakugen to sono Eikyō (Reduction in public work and its impact), National Diet Library. Refurensu 1: 9–28.Google Scholar
Koh, B. C. 1989. Japan's Administrative Elite. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Krauss, Ellis S. 2000. Broadcasting Politics in Japan: NHK and Television News. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Maclachlan, Patricia L. 2004. “Post Office Politics in Modern Japan: The Postmasters, Iron Triangles, and the Limits of Reform.” Journal of Japanese Studies 30, 2: 281–313.Google Scholar
Martin, Sherry L., and Steel, Gill, eds. 2008. Democratic Reform in Japan: Assessing the Impact. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.Google Scholar
MEXT (Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology). 2008. Kagaku Gijutsu Hakusho (White paper on science and technology).Google Scholar
Ministry of Justice. Annual. Hōmu Nenkan (Yearbook of legal affairs).Google Scholar
Miura, Mari, Lee, Kap Yun, and Weiner, Robert. 2005. “Who are the DPJ? Policy Positioning and Recruitment Strategy.” Asian Perspective 29, 1: 49–77.Google Scholar
Nakano, Masashi. 2009. Amakudari no Kenkyū: Sono Jittai to Mekanizumu no Kaimei (Research on amakudari: An explanation of the real situation and the mechanism that causes it). Tokyo: Akashi Shoten.Google Scholar
Nakata, Kazuyoshi. 2009. “Nihon no kakei chochiku-ritsu no chōkitekina dōkō to kongo no tenbō” (The long-term trend and outlook of Japan's household savings rate). Kikan seisaku keiei kenkyū [Mitsubishi UFJ Bank] 1, 113–128.Google Scholar
National Police Agency (Keisatsuchō). Annual. Hanzai Hakusho (White paper on crime).Google Scholar
Shinbunsha, Nihon Keizai. 1983. Jimintō Seichōkai (The LDP's Policy Affairs Research Council). Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha.Google Scholar
Noble, Gregory W. 1998. Collective Action in East Asia: How Ruling Parties Shape Industrial Policy. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Noble, Gregory W. 2005. “Front Door, Back Door: The Reform of Postal Savings and Loans in Japan.” The Japanese Economy 33, 1: 107–123.Google Scholar
Noble, Gregory W. 2007. “Stealth Populism: Administrative Reform in Japan.” In The Repositioning of Public Governance: Global Experience and Challenges, ed. Caiden, Gerald E. and Su, Tsai-Tsu. Taipei: Best-Wise.Google Scholar
OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). 2000, 2008, 2009. Annual. Education at a Glance: OECD Indicators. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development). 2008. OECD in Figures. Paris: OECD.Google Scholar
Ōtake, Hideo. 1999. Nihon Seiji no Tairitsu Jiku—93 Nen ikō no Seikai Saihen no naka de (Axes of cleavage in Japanese politics in the political reorganizations after 1993). Tokyo: Chuo Shinsho.Google Scholar
Persson, Torsten, and Tabellini, Guido. 2003. The Economic Effects of Constitutions. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Poole, Keith T., and Rosenthal, Howard. 1997. Congress: A Political-Economic History of Roll Call Voting. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reed, Steven R. 1994. “Democracy and the Personal Vote: A Cautionary Tale from Japan.” Electoral Studies 13, 1: 17–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, Steven R., and Thies, Michael F. 2001. “The Causes of Electoral Reform in Japan.” In Mixed-Member Electoral Systems: The Best of Both Worlds? ed. Shugart, M. S. and Wattenberg, M. P. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rosenbluth, Frances McCall, and Thies, Michael F. 2010. Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Saito, Jun. 2009. “Infrastructure as the Magnet of Power: Explaining Why Japanese Legislators Left and Returned to the LDP.” Journal of East Asian Studies 9, 3: 467–493.Google Scholar
Schaede, Ulrike. 2008. Choose and Focus: Japanese Business Strategies for the 21st Century. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Scheiner, Ethan. 2005. Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schofield, Norman, and Sened, Itai. 2006. Multiparty Democracy: Elections and Legislative Politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Shimizu, Masato. 2007. Keizai Zaisei Senki: Kantei Shidō, Koizumi kara Abe e (War chronicle of the Council on Economic and Fiscal Policy: Cabinet leadership from Koizumi to Abe). Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha.Google Scholar
Shinoda, Tomohito. 2005. “Japan's Cabinet Secretariat and Its Emergence as Core Executive.” Asian Survey 45, 5: 800–821.Google Scholar
Shōgenji, Shin'ichi. 2008. “Nōgyō ninaite seisaku no kadai” (Issues in policies toward agriculturalists). NIRA (National Institute for Research Advancement), monogurafu shiriizu 24, March.Google Scholar
Tanaka, Aiji, and Martin, Sherry. 2003. “The New Independent Voter and Japan's Evolving Party System.” Asian Perspective 27, 3: 21–51.Google Scholar
Taniguchi, Masaki, Taku, Sugawara, and Ikuo, Kabashima. 2005. “Jimin ni suwingu shita yawarakai kōzō kaikakuha” (The soft structural reform group that swung to the LDP). Ronza 126: 93–104.Google Scholar
Tiberghien, Yves. 2007. Entrepreneurial States: Reforming Corporate Governance in France, Japan, and Korea. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Tokyo Stock Exchange Group. 2008. 2008 Shareownership Survey. Tokyo: Tokyo Stock Exchange Group.Google Scholar
Tokyo Stock Exchange Group. 2009. Fact Book 2009. Tokyo: Tokyo Stock Exchange Group.Google Scholar
Wilson, James Q. 1989. Bureaucracy: What Government Agencies Do and Why They Do It. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Yoshida, Kenzo, Guo, Yung-Hsing, and Cheng, Li-Hsuan. 2006. “The Japanese Pension Reform of 2004: A New Mode of Legislative Process.” Asian Survey 46, 3: 381–400.Google Scholar
Zaidan Hōjin Gyōsei Kanri Sentaa. 2007. Deetabukku Nihon no Gyōsei 2007 (Data book: Public administration in Japan, 2007). Tokyo: Zaidan Hōjin Gyōsei Kanri Sentaa.Google Scholar
Zaidan Hōjin Gyōsei Kanri Sentaa. 2008. Deetabukku Nihon no Gyōsei 2009 (Data book: public administration in Japan). Tokyo: Zaidan Hōjin Gyōsei Kanri Sentaa.Google Scholar