The Factions of the LDP: Saviour Turned Destroyer

Abstract

During the period of the so called "1955-system", which covers to bulk of the period analysed in this paper, and to some extent also after 1993, the LDP has been described as "a coalition of factions", factions which in turn have been described as "the root of all evil within the party". This thesis paper will explain how, and when this root was planted, and what made it grow. This thesis presents a study of why factions developed within the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) of Japan; how these factions gained immense power over the central institutions of the LDP; and how the power gained by these factions both hindered the development of the LDP's central organization and a sound ideological foundation for the LDP, while also making the LDP's rule contingent on certain conditions This thesis explains why the first presidential election in the LDP, conducted in 1956, set the LDP of on a path where the initial factions that had existed in the pre-merger conservative parties gradually gained increasingly stronger control over all of the important institutions of the LDP. The focus of this thesis is on the Miki-premiership which lasted from 1974 to 1976, and the period when the LDP suffered an internal split and loss of Diet majority in 1993. The immediate post-war years, and the years between 1954 and 1956 are also been studied as the origins of both the Japanese electoral system and the LDP lay in these periods. The period between 1974 and 1976, and the period between 1989 and 1993 share many similarities: the Japanese economy suffered problems, the LDP was marred by scandals related to corruption and money politics, and there were incessant demands for electoral reform. Against this backdrop Kōno Yōhei lead a group of disgruntled LDP MPs out of the party in 1976 and formed the New Liberal Club in an attempt to split the LDP. He failed, and the LDP remained in power. In 1993, Ōzawa Ichiro defected together with a large number of LDP MPs and formed the Japan Renewal Party. The defections soon triggered a general election and the LDP lost its Diet majority, finding itself out of government for the first time since its creation. Why did the 1993-defectors succeed where Kōno had failed? What were the intraparty and interparty developments, between the mid-1970 and 1993? This thesis answers these questions by showing that the split of the LDP was a direct result of the institutional make-up caused by decades of factionalism. The system spawned by LDP factionalism had been dependent on certain conditions for its endurance. Economic growth was essential as it was used for vote-seeking, and as it ensured the electorate's loyalty to the LDP, a divided opposition ensured that no viable alternative to the LDP emerged, and the Cold War meant that Japan was able to quickly join the capitalist free market system after the war, while it also made foreign policy almost irrelevant politically. As these conditions changed or disappeared the LDP factions proved unable to adapt, refusing to adopt political reform and ultimately losing power in 1993.