The Evolution of Japan's Party System: Politics and Policy in an Era of Institutional Change (Japan and Global Society) - Hardcover

Leonard J. Schoppa

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1442643099 ISBN 13: 9781442643093

Publisher: University of Toronto Press, 2011

Synopsis

In August 2009, the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won a crushing victory over the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), thus bringing to an end over fifty years of one-party dominance. Around the world, the victory of the DPJ was seen as a radical break with Japan's past. However, this dramatic political shift was not as sudden as it appeared, but rather the culmination of a series of changes first set in motion in the early 1990s. The Evolution of Japan's Party System analyses the transition by examining both party politics and public policy. Arguing that these political changes were evolutionary rather than revolutionary, the essays in this volume discuss how older parties such as the LDP and the Japan Socialist Party failed to adapt to the new policy environment of the 1990s. Taken as a whole, The Evolution of Japan's Party System provides a unique look at party politics in Japan, bringing them into a comparative conversation that usually focuses on Europe and North America.

About this title

About the Author

Leonard J. Schoppa is a professor in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Toronto Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1442643099
• ISBN 13: 9781442643093
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256
• Editor: Leonard J. Schoppa