1955 system

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Under the 1955 system ( Japanese 55 年 体制 Gojūgonen Taisei ) a 38-year phase in the Japanese party system is to be understood, which was characterized by a dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party ( 自由 民主党 Jiyū Minshutō ) over a relatively small opposition.

meaning

With the founding of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in 1955, which had been the ruling party since then - apart from interruptions in 1993/94 and 2009 to 2012 - the so-called 1955 system developed at the same time, in which the Socialist Party of Japan, which competed with the Liberal Democratic Party ( 日本 社会 党 Nihon Shakaitō ), as well as later the party of clean politics ( Kōmeitō公 明 党), had a share. Using the example of the large associations, namely

1) the conservative LDP,

2) of the leading social democratic parties Socialist Party of Japan (Nihon Shakaitō 社会 民主党) from 1955, Democratic Socialist Party (Minshu Shakaitō 民主 社会 党) from 1960, Democratic Party (Minshutō 民主党) from 1996/98, Democratic Progressive Party (Minshintō 民進党) from 2016 on the one hand such as

3) the religiously oriented party of clean politics (Kōmeitō 公 明 党) from 1964, clean government (Kōmei 公 明), New Kōmeitō (Kōmei Shintō 公 明 新 党), New Progressive Party (Shinshintō 新 進 党) from 1993/94 and finally again from 1998 Kōmeitō

shows the development of the pillars of this party landscape. It includes the establishment of the 1955 system, its decline in the early 1990s and a constant of two or three parties in parliament. The 1955 system was characterized by a confrontation of left and right ideologies as well as the dominance of the LDP, which had twice the number of MPs compared to the Socialist Party.

history

Composition of the House of Commons before the Conservative merger in 1955

In 1945 the Liberal Party of Japan (Nihon Jiyūtō 日本 自由 党) took over the heir of the Society of Constitutional Friends ( Rikken Seiyūkai立 憲政 友 友) popular before World War II . But the declining electoral success of the Jiyūtō, now led by Yoshida Shigeru , as well as a split from the party under its former chairman Hatoyama Ichirō called the Democratic Party of Japan (Nihon Minshutō 日本 民主党), were - in view of the successes of the socialists - the cause of the poor position of the conservative Camp. Hatoyama, previously banned from mandate by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers because of his membership in the government during the Second World War and his critical stance on the US from 1945, tactically allied himself with the Socialist Party of Japan (Nihon Shakaitō 社会 um) to control the Yoshida government to overthrow a motion of no confidence. This paved the way for a political reorientation, the 'Conservative Fusion', which merged both parties, the Liberal Party and the Nihon Minshutō, to form the Liberal Democratic Party (Jiyū Minshutō 自由 民主党 Jiyū Minshutō).

Composition of the House of Commons after the Conservative merger in 1958

With the start as a ruling party in 1955, the success of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) went hand in hand with the economic rise of Japan and the global political position of the country. Despite internal conflicts and various scandals, the Liberal Democratic Party managed to remain the strongest parliamentary group in both parliaments for decades and to provide the prime minister. However, the party achieved its greatest electoral success in 1986, when 300 of 512 members of the lower house and 72 of 126 members of the upper house came from its ranks. As a result of an insider trading scandal, it lost the parliamentary majority, whereupon the previous opposition now turned the government. A split from the LDP led to the formation of the New Party of Japan (Nihon Shintō 日本 新 党), which merged with the Socialist Party of Japan (Nihon Shakaitō 社会 民主党), the Party of Rebirth (Shinseitō 新生 党), the Party of Clean Politics (Kōmeitō 公 明 党) , the Social Democratic Party (Minshu Shakaitō 民主 社会 党) and the New Avant-garde Party (Shintō Sakigake 新 党 さ き が け), also a party of LDP dropouts. The LDP could thus be outvoted in both chambers of parliament. Hosokawa Morihiro from the New Party of Japan was consequently able to become prime minister on August 9, 1993 as the first non-LDP politician. That was the end of the 1955 system. However, the LDP regained power in 1996.

literature

  • Junji Banno, JAA Stockwin: Japan's Modern History, 1857-1937: A New Political Narrative. Routledge / Taylor & Francis Group, London / New York, NY 2014, ISBN 978-1-138-77517-6 .
  • Haruhiro Fukui: Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific. Volume 2, Greenwood Press, Westport / Connecticut - London 1985.
  • Ronald J. Hrebenar, Akira Nakamura: Party Politics in Japan: Political Chaos and Stalemate in the 21st Century. Routledge, London / New York, 2015, ISBN 978-1-138-01393-3 .
  • Richard Sims: Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation 1868-2000. Palgrave MacMillan, New York 2001, ISBN 978-0-312-23915-2 .
  • James Arthur Ainscow Stockwin: Collected Writings of JAA Stockwin. Part 1. Edition Synapse, Tokyo 2004, ISBN 978-1-903350-15-7 .
  • James Arthur Ainscow Stockwin: Political Parties in Postwar Japan. In: Stockwin: Collected Writings of JAA Stockwin. P. 140 ff.
  • Thomas Weyrauch: The party landscape in East Asia. Longtai, Heuchelheim 2018, ISBN 978-3-938946-27-5 .
  • Thomas Weyrauch: Political Lexicon East Asia. Longtai, Heuchelheim 2019, ISBN 978-3-938946-28-2 .
  • Brian Woodall: Japanese Political Finance and its Dark Side. In: Ronald J. Hrebenar, Akira Nakamura: Party Politics in Japan. P. 1 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Weyrauch, Politisches Lexikon Ostasien, p. 64.
  2. ^ Stockwin: Political Parties in Postwar Japan. Pp. 106, 141 ff .;
    Weyrauch: The party landscape in East Asia. P. 76 ff.
  3. ^ Fukui: Political Parties of Asia and the Pacific. Volume 1, pp. 454, 554 ff .;
    Weyrauch: The party landscape in East Asia. P. 76 ff .;
    Sims: Japanese Political History Since the Meiji Renovation. Pp. 274, 276.
  4. ^ Banno: Japan's Modern History. Pp. 308, 311, 324, 334 ff., 345 ff .;
    Weyrauch: The party landscape in East Asia. P. 78 ff .;
    Woodall: Japanese Political Finance and its Dark Side. P. 56 ff.