Explaining Japan's Fragile Premierships in the Post-Koizumi Era

Mishima, Ko

doi:10.1007/s12140-012-9179-y

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…Even without an initial bounce of popularity among voters, Noda constantly met backbenchers' calls for resignation due to his poor approval rates. Notably, with the waning of factions, the same pattern can also be observed in recent LDP Cabinets (Mishima, ). After Koizumi's successful premiership, the LDP produced three short‐lived Prime Ministers—Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda, and Taro Aso—in 2006–2009.…”

Section: Analyzing Causes Of Dpj's Failuresupporting

confidence: 70%

Unattainable Mission? The Democratic Party of Japan's Unsuccessful Policymaking System Reform

Mishima

2015

Asian Politics and Policy

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In December 2012, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) fell from power after ruling the country for only three years. An important cause of the DPJ government's downfall concerned its failure in policymaking system reform. When it came to power in September 2009, the DPJ vowed to dissolve the policymaking system created under the lengthy dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party. It pledged to practice “Cabinet‐led policymaking” by strengthening the Cabinet's leadership fundamentally. It also promised to curtail bureaucratic power. But in reality, the DPJ's policymaking system reform turned out to be an utter failure. This article points out that there are four major reasons for the DPJ government's failure in policymaking system reform: (i) lack of internal unity, (ii) ineffective top leadership, (iii) institutional depth of bureaucratic power, and (iv) the twisted Diet.

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Section: Analyzing Causes Of Dpj's Failuresupporting

confidence: 70%

Unattainable Mission? The Democratic Party of Japan's Unsuccessful Policymaking System Reform

Mishima

2015

Asian Politics and Policy

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“…specifically, with his increased weight in electoral campaigning, as will be discussed below, the prime minister can now become a lame duck quickly if his popularity among voters is low. This is exactly what happened to three short-lived ldP prime ministers after Koizumi: the first abe, fukuda, and aso cabinets (Mishima 2012). in this period, ldP politicians were hypersensitive to their leaders' popularity.…”

Section: Party Facementioning

confidence: 74%

“…although these prime ministers were obviously weak, we can find that the same political dynamism that causes presidentialization also operated under them. That is, both the powerful prime ministership staged by Koizumi and abe and the weak prime ministership in between resulted from the same set of structural conditions in today's ldP politics (Mishima 2012). a succession of short-lived prime ministers in 2006-2009 should not be regarded as evidence to deny the progression of presidentialization in Japanese politics.…”

Section: The Presidentialization Of Ldp Politics: Prime Ministers Koi...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Presidentialization of Japan's LDP Politics: Analyzing Its Causes, Limits, and Perils

Mishima

2019

World Affairs

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This article examines the elevated status of the prime minister in the Japanese Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) government through the lens of Poguntke and Webb's presidentialization thesis. There are two distinctive characteristics in the Japanese case. First, its presidentialization does not occur as the evolution of the Westminster model and instead follows a unique path. Second, the reinforced position of the Japanese premiership is in essence the product of institutional reforms that the Japanese political class has enacted in the last two decades for the renewal of national strategies, which in turn means that the Japanese presidentialization is taking place by design at its core. Furthermore, the latter fact implies its potential risks-most importantly, the progress of presidentialization under the LDP's continued dominance can undermine check-and-balance functions in Japanese democracy to a hazardous degree.

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Introduction: Comparing Prime Ministers in Britain and Japan

Burrett

2023

Contemporary Prime Ministerial Leadership in Britain and Japan

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Explaining Japan's Fragile Premierships in the Post-Koizumi Era

Cited by 6 publications

References 10 publications

Unattainable Mission? The Democratic Party of Japan's Unsuccessful Policymaking System Reform

Unattainable Mission? The Democratic Party of Japan's Unsuccessful Policymaking System Reform

The Presidentialization of Japan's LDP Politics: Analyzing Its Causes, Limits, and Perils

Introduction: Comparing Prime Ministers in Britain and Japan

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