Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T03:51:18.387Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cleaning up politics and revitalizing democracy? A European view of the new system of political finance in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 July 2009

Verena Blechinger
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

When a package of political reform bills was enacted in Japan in 1994, commentators predicted that Japanese politics would fundamentally change. After a series of corruption scandals, the new legislation tightened the system of legal controls, increased penalties for wrongdoing by politicians and made the flow of money more transparent. One key element of the reform package was the introduction of government subsidies for political parties. These funds were intended to strengthen the role of political parties and, at the same time, to close the gap between voters and politicians. Based on a comparison between the German and Japanese systems of political finance, this paper argues that government subsidies have not brought parties and voters closer together. While the distance between politics and big business in Japan has increased since 1994, change has come from the business side, not as a result of the new regulations. In the long run, the new Japanese political finance system will not bridge the gap between political elites and ordinary citizens.

Type
Focus: Japan and Europe
Information
European Review , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , October 2000 , pp. 533 - 551
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2000

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Abe, H., Shinoto, S. and Kawato, S. (1994) Government and Politics in Japan (Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press).Google Scholar
2.Alexander, H. E. and Federman, J. (eds) (1989) Comparative Political Finance in the 1980s (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
3.Arnim, H. H. von (1982) Parteienfinanzierung. Eine verfassungsrechtliche Untersuchung [Political Finance. An Analysis from the Perspective of Constitutional Law] (Wiesbaden: Karl-Bräuer-Institut).Google Scholar
4.Berelson, B. R., Lazarsfeld, P. F., and McPhee, W. N. (1954) Voting. A Study of Opinion Formation in Presidential Campaigns (Chicago: University of Chicago Press).Google Scholar
5.Beyme, K. von (1984) Parteien in westlichen Demokratien [Parties in Western Democracies] (Munich: Piper).Google Scholar
6.Blechinger, V. (1998) Politische Korruption in Japan. Ursachen, Hintergründe und Reform [Political Corruption in Japan. Causes, Consequences, and Reform] (Hamburg: Institut für Asienkunde).Google Scholar
7.Blechinger, V. (1999) Changes in the handling of corruption scandals in Japan since 1994. Asia-Pacific Review 6(2), pp. 42–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Boyken, F. (1998) Die neue Parteienfinanzierung [The New System of Political Finance] (Baden-Baden: Nomos).Google Scholar
9.Curtis, G. L. (1988) The Japanese Way of Politics (New York: Columbia University Press).Google Scholar
10.Dahrendorf, R. (1957) Soziale Klassen und Klassenkonflikt in der industriellen Gesellschaft [Social Classes and Class Conflict in Industrial Societies] (Stuttgart: Enke).Google Scholar
11. Deutscher Bundestag (2000) Informationen zur Parteienfinanzierung [Informations about Party Finance in Germany]. Downloaded from: www.bundestag.de/datbk/finanz/17.htm.Google Scholar
12.Drysch, T. (1998): Parteienfinanzierung. Österreich, Schweiz, Bundesrepublik Deutschland [Political Finance. Austria, Switzerland, Germany] (Opladen: Leske und Budrich).Google Scholar
13.Hirose, M. (1993) Seiji to kane [Politics and Money] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho).Google Scholar
14.Inoguchi, T., and Iwai, T. (1987) Zoku giin no kenkyû. Jimintô o gyûjiru shuyakutachi [Studies in ‘Policy Tribes’. The Actors Who Control the LDP]. (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha).Google Scholar
15.Iwai, T. (1992) Seiji shikin no kenkyû [Studies in Political Finance] (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha).Google Scholar
16.Iwai, T. (forthcoming) Fulfilling the democratic ideal: ‘cost free politics’, ‘party centered politics’ and the 1994 political finance reform in Japan. In Blechinger, V. (ed) Political Reform in Japan. Entering a New Era of Japanese Democracy, (Munich: Iudicium).Google Scholar
17.Kaltefleiter, W. and Nassmacher, K.-H. (1994) Das Parteiengesetz 1994 – Reform der kleinen Schritte [The Law on Political Parties 1994 – Reforming Step by Step], Zeitschrift fu; aur Parlamentsfragen, 2, pp. 253–262.Google Scholar
18.Knight, A. (1998) Historical and theoretical considerations. In Dogan, M. and Higley, J. (eds) Elites, Crises, and the Origins of Regimes (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield), pp. 29–45.Google Scholar
19.Landfried, C. (1991) Die Macht des Fernsehens. Inszenierung statt Kontrolle von Politik [The Power of Television. The Staging of Politics Instead of Control] In Hartwich, H.-H. and Wewer, G. (eds) Regieren in der Bundesrepublik III. Systemsteuerung und Staatskunst [Governing Germany, Part 3] (Opladen: Leske und Budrich), pp. 193–214.Google Scholar
20.Landfried, C. (1994) Parteifinanzen und politische Macht. Eine vergleichende Studie zur Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Italien und den USA [Party Finance and Political Power. A Comparative Study of Germany, Italy, and the US] (Baden-Baden: Nomos).Google Scholar
21.Masumi, J. (1995) Contemporary Politics in Japan (Berkeley: University of California Press).Google Scholar
22.Matsuo, T. (ed) (1994) Senkyo ga kawaru! Seiji ga ugoku! Seiji kaikaku yôran [Elections Change! Politics Start Moving! An Overview of Political Reforms]. (Tokyo: Kokusei Jôhô Sentâ).Google Scholar
23.Mills, C. W. (1956) The Power Elite (London, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press).Google Scholar
24.Nassmacher, K.-H. (1987) Öffentliche Parteienfinanzierung in Westeuropa. Implementationsstrategien und Problemstand in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Italien, Österreich und Schweden [Public Funding for Political Parties in Western Europe. Strategies of Implementation and Related Problems in Germany, Italy, Austria, and Sweden], Politische Vierteljahresschrift, 28, 101–125.Google Scholar
25.Nassmacher, K.-H. (1992) Parteifinanzen im westeuropäischen Vergleich [Political Finance in Western Europe], Zeitschrift für Parlamentsfragen, 23, pp. 462–488.Google Scholar
26.Pharr, S. J. and Krauss, E. S. (eds) (1996) Media and Politics in Japan (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press).Google Scholar
27.Pinto-Duschinsky, M. (1981) British Political Finance 1830–1980 (Washington, London: American Enterprise Institute).Google Scholar
28.Pinto-Duschinsky, M. (1998) Power to the centre: how the Neill report will revolutionise the funding of political parties. The Times Literary Supplement, 25 12 1998.Google Scholar
29.Reed, S. R. (1994) Democracy and the personal vote: a cautionary tale from Japan. Electoral Studies, 13, 17–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
30.Schumpeter, J. A. (1950) Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy (New York: Harper and Row).Google Scholar
31.Sone, Y., and Kanazashi, M. (1993) Bishûaru zeminâru. Nihon no seiji [Visual Seminar: Japanese Politics] (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shinbunsha).Google Scholar
32.Takeda, H. (1994) Dangô no keizaigaku. Nihonteki chôsei shisutemu no rekishi to riron [The Economics of Informal Consultations. History and Theory of the Japanese System of Regulation] (Tokyo: Shûeisha).Google Scholar
33.Tanaka, M. (1997) Seiji kaikaku rokunen no dôtei [Six Years of Political Reform]. (Tokyo: Gyôsei).Google Scholar
34.Verba, S., Schlozman, K. L. and Brady, H. E. (1996) Voice and Equality: Civic Voluntarism in American Politics (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press).Google Scholar
35.Walker, J. L. Jr., (1966) A critique of the elitist theory of democracy. American Political Science Review, 60, 285–295.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
36.Wettig-Danielmeier, I., Feldmann, H., and Wettig, K. (1997) Handbuch zur Parteienfinanzierung [Handbook of Political Finance] (Marburg: Schüren).Google Scholar
37.Woodall, B. (1996) Japan Under Construction. Corruption, Politics, and Public Works (Berkeley: University of California Press).Google Scholar
38.Yamaguchi, J. (1993) Seiji kaikaku [Political Reform] (Tokyo: Iwanami Shinsho).Google Scholar