2021 Volume 20 Pages 43-51
One feature of political studies in the 2010s has been a focus on right-wing populism. In “The politics of the 2010s: What was destroyed and what was created?”, the ideological transformation of Japanese society is first shown through quantitative research results, and then the characteristics of political communication in the 2010s are examined.
Since the 1990s, the difference between conservative and progressive parties has become less noticeable in voters’ understanding of ideology. As a result, anti-establishment populist parties have emerged in empty ideological spaces on the right and left. One symbolic phenomenon, according to a survey, is that the Japan Innovation Party (Nippon Ishin) is the most “progressive (kakushin)” for the generations under 40. In short, the meaning of “progressive” has been transformed into “innovation”.
This situation is particularly compatible with (right-wing) populism, the main method of which is to create an “us/them” situation. In fact, the language used by the (online) radical right often differs from the meaning used by academicians, ignoring the traditional meaning, history, and context of particular words. However, “they” create partisans (i.e., new political subjects) who are only those who share their use of language. As a consequence, dialogue between the two partisans has become significantly more difficult and “Tribalism” has become more prominent. In this paper, I argue ultimately that power will be foregrounded if dialogue and debate are impossible, and if partisanship and antagonism are emphasized.
