Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T07:17:27.706Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Electoral Origin of Japan's Nationalistic Leadership: Primaries in the LDP Presidential Election and the “Pull Effect”

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 March 2016

Hironori Sasada
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In recent years, some Japanese prime ministers have exhibited a nationalistic tendency, particularly in their foreign policies. The increasing nationalistic appeal by recent leaders marks a sharp contrast with previous leaders, who were unwilling to cause friction with other countries and thus took more centrist positions. More interestingly, those recent leaders, including Koizumi Junichiro, previously adopted a more modest stance. This article seeks to explain the increase in nationalistic appeal, particularly between 2001 and 2006, among Japanese leaders by focusing on some important changes in the Liberal Democratic Party's (LDP's) presidential election procedures. Drawing on the study of US primary elections, I argue that the increase in the weight of rank-and-filers' votes vis-à-vis the LDP Diet members' votes in the LDP presidential election encouraged some candidates to take more ideologically extreme positions. In other words, much like US primaries, the LDP presidential elections can have a tendency to pull some candidates toward extreme positions.

Keywords

Japannationalismleadershipforeign policyKoizumi JunichiroLDP presidential electiondivisive primary hypothesis
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of East Asian Studies , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , April 2010 , pp. 1 - 30
Copyright
Copyright © East Asia Institute 

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

Abe, Shinzo. 2006. Utsukushii Kuni E. Tokyo: Bungei Shunju.Google Scholar
Brady, David et al. . 2007. “Primary Elections and Candidate Ideology: Out of Step with the Primary Electorate?” Legislative Studies Quarterly 32, 1:79–105.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burden, Barry. 2004. “Candidate Positioning in US Congressional Election.” British Journal of Political Science 34: 211–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dalton, Russell J., and Tanaka, Aiji. 2007. “The Patterns of Party Polarization in East Asia.” Journal of East Asian Studies 7, 2: 203–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Luca, Miguel, Jones, Mark P., and Tula, M. I.. 2002. “Back Rooms or Ballot Boxes? Candidate Nomination in Argentina.” Comparative Political CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Studies 35, 4: 413–436.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris. 1999. “Whatever Happened to the Median Voter?” Paper presented at the MIT Conference on Parties and Congress, Cambridge, MA, October 1999, 2–45.Google Scholar
Gerber, Elizabeth, and Morton, Rebecca. 1998. “Primary Election System and Representation.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 14, 2:304–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hacker, Jacob, and Pierson, Paul. 2005. Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Iio, Jun. 2006. Nihon no Tochikouzou. Tokyo: Chukoshinsho.Google Scholar
The Japan Ministry of Defense. 2007. Defense of Japan 2007. Japan Ministry of Defense website. Available at www.mod.go.jp/e/publ/w_paper/index.html (accessed on May 25, 2008).Google Scholar
Kabashima, Ikuo, and Yamamoto, Koji. 2005. “The 2003-04 University of Tokyo/Asahi Shimbun Politician's Survey Codebook.” Nihon Seiji Kenkyu 2, 2: 392–418.Google Scholar
Kato, Junko, and Laver, Michael. 2003. “Policy and Party Competition in Japan After the Election of 2000.” Japanese Journal of Political Science 4, 1:121–133.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lengle, James I. 1980. “Divisive Presidential Primaries and Party Electoral Prospects, 1932–1976.” American Politics Quarterly 8, 3: 261–277.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan. 2006. “Jiyu Minshuto Sosai Kosen Kitei.” In Jiyu Minshuto 50 Nenshi. Tokyo: LDP, 51–56.Google Scholar
Muramatsu, Michio et al. . 1986. Sengo Nihon no Atsuryoku Dantai. Tokyo: Toyo Keizai Shimposha, 133.Google Scholar
Otake, Hideo. 2006. Koizumi Junichiro Popurizumu No Kenkyu. Tokyo: Toyokeizai Shinposha.Google Scholar
Polsby, Nelson, and Wildavsky, Aaron. 2004. Presidential Elections: Strategies and Structures of American Politics. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.Google Scholar
Pyle, Kenneth. 1996. The Japanese Question. Washington, DC: The AEI Press.Google Scholar
Pyle, Kenneth. 2007. Japan Rising. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Samuels, Richard. 1994. Rich Nation Strong Army. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Samuels, Richard. 2008. Securing Japan. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Sasada, Hironori. 2006. “Youth and Nationalism in Japan.” The SAIS Review 26, 2: 109–122.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sasada, Hironori, Machidori, Satoshi, and Fujimura, Naofumi. 2008. “The Dividing Effect of Primary Election: A Comparative Study of Party Polarization.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of American Political Science Association, Boston, MA,Google Scholar
August 2008, 1–31.Google Scholar
Takenaka, Harutaka. 2006. Shusho Shihai. Tokyo: Chukoshinsho.Google Scholar
Uchiyama, Yu. 2007. Koizumi Seiken. Tokyo: Chukoshinsho.Google Scholar