Are we seeing the presidentialization of politics in Japan? Certainly, many recent prime ministers have demonstrated powerful leadership, notably Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe. While the phenomenon of presidentialization has been much discussed for years, the Japanese case has not received much attention in the English language.
Iwasaki analyses the state of Japanese politics using the established analytical framework of presidentialization – looking at leadership power resources, leadership autonomy, and the personalization of the electoral process – and assesses the factors that have been claimed to lead to similar changes in other countries. He argues that there are also unique variables that contribute to the presidentialization of Japanese politics. Most notably, the introduction of public subsidies to political parties and electoral reform in 1994.
A valuable contribution to the global scholarship on presidentialization, which will be of particular interest to scholars of Japanese politics.
By:
Masahiro Iwasaki (Nihon University Tokyo Japan) Imprint: Routledge Country of Publication: United Kingdom Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Weight: 317g ISBN:9781032478906 ISBN 10: 103247890X Series:Routledge Contemporary Japan Series Pages: 162 Publication Date:08 October 2024 Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active
1 Introduction 2 What is Presidentialization? 3 Analytical Framework for Japanese Politics 4 Political Reform and Transformation of Party Politics 5 Nakasone, Hashimoto, and Koizumi Government 6 The Abe Government and Presidentialization 7 Conclusion: Presidentialization Thesis and Japanese Politics
Masahiro Iwasaki is a Professor of Comparative Politics at the College of Law, Nihon University, Tokyo, Japan.