ABSTRACT

THE DOMINANT FEATURE of Japanese party polities over the past decade is the continued success of the conservatively oriented Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in maintaining itself in power despite challenges from the opposition parties. In the mid1950s, the formation of a government in which the Japan Socialist Party (JSP) was a major participant seemed a real prospect. Three main factors, however, conspired to prevent this happening. The first, and most important, was the extremely rapid economic growth which extended from the 1950s to the early 1970s. The bulk of the population received unprecedented increases in its standard of living over this period, and this undoubtedly blunted the appeal of alternative forms of government.