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The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), also known as Jiyū Minshutō (自由民主党, more often abbreviated to Jimin-tō 自民党) is the largest Japanese political party as of 2004. It is not to be confused with the now-defunct Liberal Party of Japan (1998), which merged with the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, in November 2003.
The Liberal Democratic party is Japan's largest right-wing and conservative party.
History
The LDP was formed in 1955 as a party merger between Japan's two oppositional parties, the Liberal Party and the Democratic Party, both right-wing conservative parties - as a united front against the then very popular Japan Socialist Party. The party immediately won the elections, and Japan's first conservative government with a majority was formed by 1955. It would hold the majority government until 1993.
The LDP began with reforming Japan's foreign affairs, ranging from entry into the United Nations to establishing diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union. Its leaders in the 1950s also made the LDP the main government party, and in all the elections of the 1950s, the LDP won the majority vote, with the only other opposition coming from the left-wing, made up of the Japan Socialist Party and the Japanese Communist Party.
From the 1950s through the 1970s, the American Central Intelligence Agency spent millions of dollars attempting to influence elections in Japan to favor the LDP against more leftist, less pro-American parties, although this was not revealed until the mid-1990s when The New York Times exposed it. Therefore it is speculated that the party's long-term power was at least partly as a result of these Cold War operations to manipulate Japanese government.
For the majority of the 1960s, the LDP (and Japan) were led by Eisaku Sato, which began with the hosting of the Olympics in Japan in 1964, and ending in 1972 with Japanese neutrality in the Vietnam War and also with the beginning of the Miracle Economy. By the end of the 1970s, the LDP went into its decline, where, even though it held the reigns of government, many scandals plagued the party, where the opposition (now joined with the Clean Government Party (Former)) gained a tiny amount of momentum.
In the end of the 1970s, the Japan Socialist Party, the Japanese Communist Party, and the Clean Government Party, and also the international community all elected major pressure to have Japan switch diplomatic ties to the People's Republic of China from the Republic of China. During the 1980s, the LDP was responsible for Japan's unprecendeted economic growth, and the Bubble Economy. In the end of the decade, Japan also played a pivotal role in ending the Cold War.
But by 1993, the end of the miracle economy and other reasons made the LDP lose that year's election. The winners, made up of opposition parties, formed a government under the liberal Japan Renewal Party. Other junior coalition partners were the existing opposition parties (the Clean Government Party, Japan Socialist Party, and the Japanese Communist Party) as well as a new party, the New Party Sakigake. But the latter three parties were neglected in the coalition, and thus left the ruling coalition, joining the LDP in the opposition.
By 1994, the liberal parties in the ruling coalition failed to form a majority, and the Japan Socialist Party won the election, thus the LDP was returned to the ruling parties, even though it was a junior coalition partner.
By 1996, the LDP was returned to the largest, ruling party. The Japanese Communist Party, the Japan Socialist Party, which was renamed the Social Democratic Party (Japan), and the Clean Government Party, as well as other several minor parties (the Japan New Party and the Japan Renewal Party all dissolved) went into opposition, while the New Party Sakikage was part of the ruling coalition.
After 1996, when the LDP returned to power, the party was practically unopposed until 1998, when the oppositional liberal Democratic Party was formed. Since then the opposition has been gaining momentum, especially in the 2003 and 2004 Parliamentary Elections. But the LDP is still in power, and the largest party.
On November 10, 2003, the New Conservative Party (Hoshu Shintō) was absorbed into the LDP, a move which was largely because of the New Conservative Party's failiure to win 5 seats (it won 4).
Today, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is from this party. He has sent troops to Iraq, and dissolved the Lower House. The LDP is in a coalition with the conservative yet theocratic Buddhist New Clean Government Party. So far, the LDP is still the largest party. New Party Sakigake (which had changed its name to Sakigake) was in the coalition until 2002, when the party dissolved itself and formed the Midori no Kaigi, an ecologist party, which has no seats in the Diet, but unofficially supports the government. Now, the LDP and New Komeito Party (New Clean Government Party) make up the ruling coalition.
The LDP gains most of its support from rural conservative farmers, and it is also the established party of the bureaucracy, and the faimed zaibutsu and white-collarworkers. The LDP is also almost always ridden with scandals, usually when political bosses take money from white-collar bureaucrats.
In the dramatically paced 2003 House of Representatives elections, the LDP won 237 seats, while the DPJ won 177 seats. In the 2004 House of Councillors elections, in the seats up for grabs, the LDP won 49 seats and the DPJ 50, though in the end, the LDP still had a total of 114.
The LDP's pictorial logo is two children under a sun.
On domestic policy the party is conservative. It supports privatization of all industries. The party is the most right-wing and conservative party in Japan, and is still the most popular.
Factions
The LDP has been a very factionalized party for most of its history. There are currently five major factions in the LDP. From most to least powerful, they are:
- Heisei Kenkyukai (Hashimoto Faction), led by former PM Hashimoto Ryutaro. The Hashimoto faction was preceded by the Takeshita Faction of Takeshita Noboru. It is now led by Aoki Mikio in the Upper House. It is the most bureaucratic and conservative faction. Ex-PM Hashimoto and the entire faction were recently hit with a scandal where the faction had apparently taken money from the Japan Dental Association. Hashimoto is expected to resign: possible replacements include Hori Kosuke, Watanuki Tamisuke, Fujii Takao, and Nukaga Fukushiro. It currently has 53 seats in the Lower House and 29 seats in the Upper House. It is split with members who support Mr. Koizumi and those who do not. The supporters of Mr. Koizumi are more in numbers.
- Seiwa Seisaku Kenkyukai (Mori Faction), led by Mori Yoshiro. It is a more reformist faction, and though Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi belongs to this faction, it is the second largest, even though with 52 seats in the Lower Hous eand 26 seats in the Upper House, it is not far away from the Hashimoto Faction.
- Shisuikai (Kamei Faction), led by Kamei Shizuka. It has 28 seats in the Lower House and 17 seats in the Upper House.
- Kochikai (Horiuchi Faction), led by Horiuchi Mitsuo, it currently has 33 seats in the Lower House and 12 seats in the Upper House.
- Kinmirai Seiji Kenkyukai (Yamasaki Faction), led by Yamasaki Taku. It has 25 seats in the Lower House and 4 seats in the Upper House.
- Kochikai (Ozato Faction), led by Ozato Sadatoshi. It was led by Kato Koichi and known as the Kato Faction until it split in 2001. It is more conservative and critical of Mr. Koizumi, and thus more successful, with 12 seats in the Lower House and 4 seats in the Upper House.
- Bancho Seisaku Kenkyujo (Komura Faction), led by Komura Masahiko. It has 12 seats in the Lower House and 2 seats in the Upper House.
- Taiyukai (Kono Group), formerly led by Kono Yohei. The other half of the former Kato faction. Not as influential as the other half of the former Kato Faction. It has 9 seats in the Lower House and 1 seat in the Upper House. It is more critical of Mr. Koizumi and more reformist. It is now known as the Former Kono Faction because the resignation of the faction chief and the ineffiency of the party to decide on a new leader.
- Atarashii Nami (Nikai Group), led by Nikai Toshihiro. It is a more reformist group and the most reformist party in the LDP. It has 9 seats in the Lower House and 3 seats in the Upper House.
The most famous faction in the LDP's history was the Tanaka Faction, led by PM Tanaka Kakuei: it was particularly strong in the seventies and eighties, but collapsed in 1987. A former faction, the Kochikai, was the samellst faction, but it dissolved following the 2004 Upper House elections, and its members joined the Mori Faction. Today, the largest, most popular, and most conservative faction of the LDP is the Hashimoto Faction.
See also
External link
The official site of the Liberal Democratic Party. It is in Japanese, but there is an English link at the top of the page, where information about the LDP is given in English. On the Japanese page, there is also an e-mail form, but none in English.
de:Liberaldemokratische Partei
fr:Parti libéral démocrate (Japon) ja:自由民主党 (日本) ko:일본 자유민주당
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