Japan has experienced a political earthquake last Sunday. Japan’s 45th Lower House elections marked the end of almost 54 years of uninterrupted rule of the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP). The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), led by 62-year old Yukio Hatoyama won 308 of the 480 seats in the Lower House while the LDP won a mere 119 seats down from 300 it held before. A landslide victory for the DPJ and the worst electoral setback for the LDP since its foundation in 1955. Nothing less, analysts widely agree, than the end of Japanese LDP-dominated politics as we know it and possibly the beginning of a two-party system, in case the LDP is able to recover from the election debacle and become a credible and competitive party in the years ahead. The new Prime Minister Hatoyama in the meantime will take over from his predecessor Taro Aso in mid-September being confronted with the tasks of nothing less than leading Japan out of economic recession, record-high unemployment and deregulating an over-regulated economy in need of economic and structural reforms. The policy brief will seek to assess whether or whether not a DPJ-led government and Yukio Hatoyama will have what it takes to do just that.
Japan’s Political Earthquake. A New Government Ending Economic and Political Crisis?, ISPI Policy Brief September 2009
BERKOFSKY, AXEL
2009-01-01
Abstract
Japan has experienced a political earthquake last Sunday. Japan’s 45th Lower House elections marked the end of almost 54 years of uninterrupted rule of the Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP). The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), led by 62-year old Yukio Hatoyama won 308 of the 480 seats in the Lower House while the LDP won a mere 119 seats down from 300 it held before. A landslide victory for the DPJ and the worst electoral setback for the LDP since its foundation in 1955. Nothing less, analysts widely agree, than the end of Japanese LDP-dominated politics as we know it and possibly the beginning of a two-party system, in case the LDP is able to recover from the election debacle and become a credible and competitive party in the years ahead. The new Prime Minister Hatoyama in the meantime will take over from his predecessor Taro Aso in mid-September being confronted with the tasks of nothing less than leading Japan out of economic recession, record-high unemployment and deregulating an over-regulated economy in need of economic and structural reforms. The policy brief will seek to assess whether or whether not a DPJ-led government and Yukio Hatoyama will have what it takes to do just that.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
