ABSTRACT
From 1955 when the Liberal Democratic Party was formed until 1993 when it split, Japan was perhaps the most extreme example of the industrial world’s limited number of “uncommon democracies” (Pempel 1990). Analogous to Sweden under the SAP, Italy under DC and Israel under Labor, but with even greater electoral dominance by the LDP, Japan had all the formal institutions of democracy, yet a single political party enjoyed decades of uninterrupted and relatively unchallenged control over government offices and public policy-making. For 38 years the LDP sustained roughly 2:1 majorities over the largest opposition party, allowing it to control virtually all cabinet posts and giving it virtually unprecedented influence in shaping national and most local policies. Conservative political power was effectively unshakable. Such long-term dominance was unusual to say the least in comparison to most other industrial democracies. But it was accompanied by, and inexorably aligned to, the fact that over the same period, Japan enjoyed exceptional levels of economic productivity. Japan’s GNP grew at rates that were typically double that of the other OECD countries. This fusion of conservative political dominance and high levels of economic productivity put in place a powerful and unusual productivity regime which continued unabated until the economic downturn that started in 1990–1991.
