Japan

Japan’s political institutions have a parliamentary system similar to those in the other leading industrialized democracies. In order to transform Japan into a representative parliamentary democracy, the founders of the constitution gave the legislature supremacy over the executive. The members of the upper and lower houses of Japan’s bicameral national parliament are elected by universal suffrage in nationwide elections. Japan’s post-war party system is often characterized as a ‘predominant party system’, according to Giovanni Sartori’s terminology. Many Japanese scholars refer to it as ‘the political system of 1955’ under which the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the largest opposition Japan Socialist Party were spilt ideologically. Some scholars, including Curtis, emphasize the LDP’s ability to adjust its policies in accordance with changes in Japan’s social economic environment. The political change of 1993, which significantly impacted upon Japan’s party system, was rooted in the political reform movement within the conservative party starting at the end of the 1980s.