The policy making process

At the heart of the LDP’s traditional policy making process is the ‘preliminary review system’, through which the government obtains the party’s approval to bills before they are put to a cabinet decision. Under this, the party has taken precedence over the government, and ‘policy tribes’ have carried much influence. However, following the political reforms, PM-led politics became more prominent in the policy making process as it did elsewhere, Prime minister Koizumi particularly promoted this process and he tried to destroy the preliminary review system in order to realise postal privatisation. In addition, the decline of interest groups and loss of the LDP’s position in government have also accelerated the weakening of policy tribes. In contrast, prime minister Abe has utilised the preliminary review system to tame policy tribes to deliver a stable version of PM-led politics.