Interest Groups and Political Parties in Japan

Abstract

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) has scored a historic victory in the 2009 election. It brings an end to more than 50 years of almost unbroken rule by the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). This would constitute the first time that power has shifted between the two largest parties in postwar Japan. This change has influenced the bureaucracy and interest groups.
  In this paper, we investigate the change in interest group behavior based on the competitiveness of the party system. Our data after dominance is largely drawn from Japan, where we have an excellent opportunity to find out how interest groups reacted to first the prospects. We also utilize the data from Germany and Korea for comparison to the one party dominance system in Japan. An analysis based on a nationwide survey offers a key to understanding the interest groups' configuration in the two - party system and allows us to estimate the effect of the power shift on the interest groups themselves. It is likely that the power shift will result not in the DPJ's dominance, but rather in a situation where the interest groups will tend to be in contact with both parties and withdraw from the electoral process.