Liberal Democratic Party

Bibliographic Data

ID20065697
AuthorsWilliam R Nester (Universidad de Londres, corresponding author)
Year1990
Pages145-178
Publication date1990-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeCHAPTER
VenueFoundation of Japanese Power (SOURCE_BOOK)
PublisherPalgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1007/978-1-349-20680-3_8
OpenAlexW2478521676
ISBN9781349206803
LanguageEN
Citations received3

Conservative parties have ruled Japan for all but nine months since 1945. Since the conservative Liberal and Democratic parties merged to form the Liberal Democratic Party in 1955, the LDP has continually ruled Japan. Although frequently described as neither liberal, democratic, nor a party, the LDP has been overwhelmingly successful in performing a political party’s central role of aggregating the support of related interest groups into a winning electoral combination, and then representing their interests through government policies. The LDP has two interrelated power bases: a virtually impregnable electoral base built on agricultural and small- and medium-sized business support, and a vast sea of finance from the corporate world. Corporate money is channeled to key voting blocks which continue to re-elect the LDP to office, enabling them to continue pushing the growth policies that benefit all. Within the LDP, powerful political patrons rather than issues bind the half dozen factions that constantly compete for plum positions in the Cabinet or party. This balance of power among the factions prevents any one-man rule while ensuring the widest representation of party interests

Democracy · Economics · Liberal Party · Liberalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Voting · Engineering · Hong Kong and Taiwan Politics · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Public Administration

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