The Ldp Essay

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Introduction
Japanese politics until 1994 has always been characterised by a single party dominance; this party is the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). The LDP ruled the country for more than three decades, it in fact stayed in power from 1955 to 1994. With the defeat of LDP in 1994 and the creation of a new electoral reform the stale Japanese political situation, characterised by a confused voting system and by a weak central body was reshaped and most of its typical element's functions were changed.
This essay aims to analyse the structure of the 1994 electoral reform and the changes that occurred in the LDP structure and policy-making after this reform. The study is organised in two parts: the first is about the electoral reform itself …show more content…

During the post-Cold War years the socialists abandoned their opposition towards the Article IX of the Constitution regarding the Us-Japan security Treaty, losing its role of main opponent of LDP.
Japanese political situation in the 1990s was a very confused one; political parties were splitted, changed their names and new coalitions were created. One of the most important political figures of those years was surely Ozawa Ichiro, secretary general of the LDP. In 1993, in fact, he proposed a non-confidence vote against the Prime Minister Miyazawa; this action lead by Ozawa brought to the new elections of 1993. (David John Lu, “Japan, a documentary history vol. 2”).
With these elections, LDP lost its dominance and a coalition of seven parties came to power. This coalition was formed by all the opposition parties, with the exception of the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), and by three new parties (Purnendra, …show more content…

(Christensen, R., 1996 “The new japanese election system”). Parties activites could now be provided with public money in accordance with the votes obtained in the elections. The maximum total amount of public financing could reach 41,4 million of yen a year. (Mainichi daily news, 20 July 1993: http://www.usc.edu/dept-00/dept/CRF/Book-Alex-Shi/chap14.htm

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