11:01:00 JAPAN
4/1/2008 AM
Historical Background Like most European countries, Japan live under a FEUDAL SYATEM for much of its history, meaning there was no strong, centralized government o FEUDALISM-system in which poor is diffused and contested among autonomous elites with private military forces. Structure of Japanese Feudalism Tenno: Emperor o Originally a largely symbolic leader, later ,,elevated to divine status. Shogun: Military Leader o Nominally Emperors chief administrator but more often the actual center of power. Diamyo: regional Lords Rulers/owners of large landed estates Samurai: private Militia o Warriors/Knights who were personally loyal to their daimyo, not the state. -Feudal system persisted for hundred of years until arrival in Japan of Westerners provoked two "shocks" to system. -First incursion(by European in 1500s) produced strong centralization of power under the Tokugawa Shogunate-long period of hereditary shogun rule by Tokugawa clan. -Second incursion produced far more sweeping changes called the Meiji Restoration (1868) Meiji Restoration o Arrival of US military forces in Japan in 1846 convinced Japanese political and military leaders that they faced serious threat from outsiders. o In order to respond to threat, Japan embarked on a rapid program of economic and military modernization.
o Meiji Restoration entailed two broad sets of Revolutionary changes. Economic Modernization State-Led Industrialization: creation of ZAIBATSU-Powerful clans given monopolies over certain sectors to develop key industries to enhance power of state.
Political Re-Legitimization Co-Optation of Shinto to elevate Emperor to status of divine being. Shinto-Japans original religion based on worship of nature and ancestors. Developmental model designed to improve the strength of the state, not the well-being of the people. MOTTO: Rich Nation, Strong Army" Meiji was one of the relatively few historical examples of a "revolution from above"
Patterns of Macro-Political Change 1. Social Revolution: Rapid, Fundamental transformation of a countrys political and social structures following class-based revolt from below (peasants, workers, etc) France (1789) Russia (1917) China (1949) Coup d'etat: One set of elites/military takes power from existing rulers, with some degree of political change but virtually no alteration of social structures. Chile (1973) Pakistan (1999) Thailand (2006) Revolution from Above: Combines featured of social revolutions and coups. Key distinctions: o 1. Who is Involved?: One set of elites (state) taking power from another set of elites (economic) Like coups (few people involved) o 2. What Type of Change?: "revolutionary" change to both political and Social structures (modernization). Like Social revolutions (great deal of change) Japan (1868) Turkey(1923) o
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Why `Revolution from Above'? Occur when countries with a particular socio-political structure are confronted by an external geopolitical threat. Foreign Military Threat Pressure to Modernize o Needs for State to Extract more Resources. o Strong Sate (JAPAN) Conflict Between State & Elites WEAK STATE (CHINA) Social Revolution
Revolution from Above
Meiji: results and Consequences o Enormously successful: Japan went from being isolated, economically backward and militarily weak to an emerging regional power in roughly 30 years. o Significant consequences of this transformation both externally and internally. o External: aggressive/Expansionist Foreign Policy o Now modernized, Japan sought to assert itself as a regional military power by carving out a SPHERE OF INFLUENCE (Area in which one regional/global power is dominant) similar to those of western imperialists Seizure of Taiwan from China (1895) War with Russia (1904) Colonization of Korea (1910) o Created "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere"- Formal name for Japans colonial and semi-colonial empire in Asia. Internal: Militarization of Japanese Politics o Hyper-nationalism and resentment of civilian politicians led Japanese military to gradually seize control of political system.
o Increasing use of Kempeitai- Army Run secret police, which has been used in colonies, within Japan its self. o Assassination of civilian politicians who opposed militarys expansionist foreign policy. Ideology of Japanese Hardliners. o RACISM: belief in biological superiority of Japanese race. o EXTREME NATIONALSIM: Commitment to acquiring new territory abroad to strengthen nation. o MILITARISM: Structuring of Japanese society along military lines of hierarchical control. o ROAD TO WAR o Japans aggressive moves to consolidate itself as the dominant power in Asia, leading up to its 1937 all-out attack to conquer China, generated escalating confrontation with West. o United States enacts serried of increasingly significant Embargoes against Japan culminating in seizure of Japanese assets in American Banks in 1941. o Japanese Military responds by attacking Pearl harbor and declaring war on US.
4/1/2008 11:01:00 AM 4-3-08 Institutions: constitution: -Written (in 5 days) by American occupation forces in 1947 established a Unitary Parlia-military System. o Single layer of government: central govt. has all power. Reasons for Democratic Success 1. Retention of Emperor: through stripped of power and divine status, provided legitimacy/ continuity to new regime. 2. Inclusion of Pease clause: Article Nine (constitutional provisions renouncing Japans right to rage war) marginalized ultranationalist. 3. Rapid Economic Growth: as with Germany, illustrated the tangible benefits of peaceful democracy. 4. Adaptability: Through western in design, constitution was flexible enough to be adapted to Japanese cultural norms: Institutions: Prime Minister -Nominally, Fairly Strong -Can name/dismiss cabinet ministers w/out Diet approval. -Appoints Supreme and other court Justices, designates Chief Justice. -Oversees Bureaucracy -can dissolve lower house of Parliament -Historically though Japanese PMs have been extremely weak. -Primarily result of informal, rather than formal, "rules of the game" -Most of these ruled are a product of the one-part dominant system(multiple allowed to complete, but only one majority party) in place for most of post war Japan history. -since the dominant party (LPD) is deeply factionalized, the PM has often been relatively powerless. Informal Rules Which Produce Weak PMs 1.factional Controll over PM nomination. o B/C of deep divisions with in LDP, choice of who will be part leader (and this PM) is controlled by
Shadow Shoguns- powerful faction leaders with in LDP) who in the past have tented to nominate "Cold Pizza" candidates (weak, uncharismatic
candidates expected to serve as puppets of factional bosses). 2. Minimal Control over Cabinet: o Incoming PM has little flexibility in naming his cabinet bc of 3 guiding formation 1. Seniority "Rule": nominations based on how senior a person is in party, not expertise. 2. Factional balance: need for cabinet to reflect underlying strength of LDP factions 3.Short Terms: Long waiting list for cabinet appointment leads to high turnover: average tenure for ministers is only one year. -almost impossible for PM to put him "stamp" on new govt.
3.Party Enforced "Term Limits" Tradition in LDP of 2-term limit (4 years) as party leader has meant PMs have no real time to produce meaningful change. GOVT. -Roughly 20-25 ministers representing key ministries. -2 most important are FINANCE Economy, Trade industry (METI) -Subject to no-confidence vote, in which case PM must either appoint new cabinet or call new elections in 10 days. - In pratice, cabinet ministries are very weak compared to Vice ministries( un elected civil servants usually with long experience and close ties to interest groups) Bureaucracy More Powerful than political Class. -Expertise: politicians are generalists, bureaucrats are specialist: expertise means bureaucrats are effectively policy makers, not just implementers
(most bills in Diet re drawn up by bureaucracy) Permanence: Civil service is appointed not elected: essentially gives bureaucracy a veto (for dragging) Resources: PM and other political leaders have very tine staffs and budgets relative to bureaucrats Allies: Long-Term relationships b/t bureaucrats and the interest groups they oversee, plus few key lawmakers created systems of small "IRON TRIANGLES"- Mutually beneficial alliances b/t key politicians special interest and the bureaucrats who oversee a given policy area. -called "Zoku giin"- or "policy tribes" in Parliament: Japan Diet (Bicameral) House of Representatives(Lower) -480 members, 4 year terms (though an average, usually dissolved after about 2 years. More powerful of 2 chambers: o Both supposed to name PM, but if 2 disagree, Reps choice wins. o Bills supposed to be passed by both houses, but: Reps can override upper house with 2/3 votes If upper house fails to pass lower house bill with in 30 days it automatically becomes law o Can vote govt. through no-confidence (last time in 1993) o By tradition, almost all cabinet ministers come from lower house House of Councilors (upper) 242 members, 6 year terms, elected every 3 years cannot be dissolved longer term and freedom from dissolution supposed to make it more long-range thinking. Historically weak, not more powerful since: o is not controlled by opposition o LDP no longer has 2.3 majority in lower house needed to override. o
Supreme Court Chief Justice and 14 other judges Apponted by PM, but confirmed by electorate in 1 st lower house election after appointment and then reconfirmed once every 10 years (though non have ever been voted out) Is Appellate court and have judicial review In pratice fairly weak B/C o non-litigious society: fewer lawsuits. o Ratio of engineers to lawyers graduated each year in Japan 10-1 o Ratio of Engineers to Lawyers graduated each year in the US is 1:10 o Non tradition or support for JUDICAL ACTIVISM (willingness of courts to intervene in political issues. Dominant party System: Uninterrupted LDP rule from 1955-1993 Nature of the LDP rule o Clientelism: a system of governerning in which politicians directly offer benefits (jobs, contracts, help with bureaucracy) in return for support (votes, campaigns contributions) from individuals or networks. o In japan the base of the Clientslist network was the Koenkai- personal support hroups for individualism politicians, not party
3/8/08
4/1/2008 11:01:00 AM
Dominant: Liberal Democratic Party: Fuzzy ideology, flexible due to factionalism, generally Center-Right. Significant Minor: Democratic Party: Center- Left umbrella party, largest opposition force: relatively new, made up mostly of defectors from LDP and other parties. New Komeito (clean government Party)- Buddhist- centered party with anti-corruption/ reform platform. Party System Current Parliament (2005 Election) o In September 2005, then PM Junichiro Koizumi called a SNAP ELECTION. for house of Rep. two years earlier following the defeat of a major reform bill in upper house o Effectively functioned as a referendum on both Koizumis government on a reform, with a landslide victory for both. o CURRENT PM: Yasuo Fukuda (LDP) o Current Government: LDP/ New Komeito Coalition. How did the LDP govern so long? Economic Growth: Japanese ,,miracle allowed LDP to continue spending that favored its supporters while keeping taxes low; also made people reluctant to change system that had brought prosperity. US Japanese Defense Arrangement: ,,Security umbrella (agreement in which US agreed to defend Japan in return for right to US military bases in Japan) let LDP reassure voters they were safe from outside threats without need for massive defense spending or violation of Article NINE- (peace clause that means they couldnt build an offensive army) Control of Spending plus Incumbency advantage. o ,,Virtuous circle (situation in which one advantage leads to others, reinforcing original advantage) where incumbency gave LDP ability to reward supporters, which led to more campaign contributions, which led to maintenance of
o incumbency advantage, etc. Flexibility and Adaptation: o Since party had no firm ideological basis, it could easily change course without repercussion, undercutting opposition.
Breakdown of LDP coalition in 1993 Economic collapse (bubble economy, and real-estate) combined with series of enormous corruption scandals within the LDP in late 1980s. LDP could no longer keep all of its traditional constituents happy (to lower food costs for middle class, had to cut farmers subsidies) Policy making became a Zero-Sum Game- Situation in which a gain by one side must be matched by a loss by another side. (finite) pie kept getting bigger. Politically unsustainable. Cannot surrive, because it cant keep everyone happy. Electoral System: House of Reps. Old System Prior to 1994, Japan used an electoral system known as Multi-Member District Plurality. 130 electoral districts for 512 seats. 2-6 seats/ districts single Non-Transferable Vote- (SNTV)- voters picked single name from list; top vote-getters filled seats; voters could not be transferred to ,,second choice candidates. Pre-1994 Electoral System Because parties needed multiple seats per district to get majority and voted could not be transferred, produced Intra-Party Electoral Competitionsituation in which members of same party run against each other in same district. Usually meant that most competition took place not across party lines, but among candidates from same party (especially LDP) Consequences
o Decentralized Campaign Organizations o Policy Specialization- people who have different specializations like Finance and agriculture run against each othe. o CorruptionNew Electoral System New system adopted in 1994 after LDP loss Reduced HR size from 512 to 480 seats 300 elected in SMDP 180 elected by PR o PR seats are allocated to the various parties according to the percentage of the vote they receive in 11 regional blocs o Minimum threshold of 3% Interest Groups Well organized producer groups have long dominated the policy process generally at the expense of less organized consumer groups. In, part this result from Japans economic model of "guided capitalism" -heavy state supervision of the economy, key developmental strategies. Central power in guiding, but little state ownership. Most important/ powerful groups: o Big Business o Small/ Medium Manufactures & retailers o Agriculture. Big Three Big Business Keiretsu: Large industrial conglomerates (Mitsubishi, Nissan, etc) which drive Japans export economy. o Represented by Keidanren (Federation of Economic Organizations) Small/ Medium Manufacturers and Retailers
o Though these enterprises only produce about lad of total manufactured goods, they employ more than 80% of nonfarm workforce, in other words, many voters o Receive subsidies and protection from LDP EX. Large Scale Retail Store Law (anti-wal-mart law) Agriculture o Extremely influential sector, in part because of MALAPPORTIONMENT- series inequality in population size of electoral districts, of voting system. o Represented by Nokyo- Peak association of agriculture cooperatives, which functions as virtually monopoly in provision of farms inputs like fertilizer, machinery, etc. Current Issues: Demographics Democratic Challenges- Two major demographic trends have emerged in Japan that may have serious political consequences o 1. Aging of Population: % of population over 65 years has jumped dramatically: means costs for both health care and retirement are a ticking time bomb. o 2. Declining Birth Rate: Fewer births( plus aging) have left country without enough workers to fill jobs, especially unskilled ones. Immigration Debate under way over whether to relax Japans strict immigration policy pits economic (need for workers) against cultural (desire to keep Japan homogenous/ latent racism) goals against each other. Economic Reform: backbone of Koizumas Platform (and reason fo him calling snap election) was weeping economic reform, most importantly through the Privatization of the Postal Service, which also serves as Japans largest savings and loan banks. This reform in particular may have Two serious Political consequences for the ruling LDP. o 1. Reduces major source of Park barrel funding (LDP has long raided the savings to pay for government projects)
o 2. Alienates a large/important part of the LDP ,,political machine- system of political org. based on patronage. In the country side by eliminating thousands of rural post offices ( and the government jobs that go with them) "New Nationalism" Short lives Prime Minister Shinzo Abe generated controversy within Japan and angered Japans neighbors with a more aggressive nationalist rhetoric which some see as deeply revisionist- attempting to deny commonly held historically accounts. Focal Points for anger in East Asia (China, North and South Korea) are: o Visits by PMs to Yasikini shrine (Japanese military cemetery where 12 class A war criminals are buries. o Denial of military role in "comfort womens" issue -young girls rounded up in Japanese-occupied Asian countries during WWII and forced to work in military brothels.