Democratic Party of Japan

Democratic Party of Japan

民主党
*Minshutō*
Democratic Party of Japan 民主党; Minshutō
Leader	Katsuya Okada
Secretary-General	Yukio Edano
Founders	Naoto Kan; Yukio Hatoyama; Tsutomu Hata
Founded	27 April 1998
Dissolved	27 March 2016
Merger of	Democratic Party (1996); Good Governance Party; New Fraternity Party; Democratic Reform Party;
Succeeded by	Democratic Party (2016)
Headquarters	1-11-1 Nagata-cho, Chiyoda, Tokyo 100-0014
Ideology	Liberalism (Japanese); Social liberalism
Political position	Centre to centre-left
International affiliation	Alliance of Democrats (2005–2012)
Colors	Red
Website
	www.dpj.or.jp
	Politics of Japan; Political parties; Elections;

The Democratic Party of Japan (民主党, Minshutō) was a centrist^[2] to centre-left^[3]^[4] liberal^[5] or social-liberal^[6] political party in Japan from 1998 to 2016.

The party's origins lie in the previous Democratic Party of Japan, which was founded in September 1996 by politicians of the centre-right and centre-left with roots in the Liberal Democratic Party and Japan Socialist Party.^[7] In April 1998, the previous DPJ merged with splinters of the New Frontier Party to create a new party which retained the DPJ name.^[8] In 2003, the party was joined by the Liberal Party of Ichirō Ozawa.^[4]

Following the 2009 election, the DPJ became the ruling party in the House of Representatives, defeating the long-dominant Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and gaining the largest number of seats in both the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors. The DPJ was ousted from government by the LDP in the 2012 general election. It retained 57 seats in the lower house, and still had 88 seats in the upper house. During its time in office, the DPJ was beset by internal conflicts and struggled to implement many of its proposed policies, an outcome described by political scientists Phillip Lipscy and Ethan Scheiner as the "paradox of political change without policy change".^[9] Legislative productivity under the DPJ was particularly low, falling to levels unprecedented in recent Japanese history according to some measures.^[10] However, the DPJ implemented a number of progressive measures during its time in office such as the provision of free public schooling through high school, increases in child-rearing subsidies,^[11] expanded unemployment insurance coverage,^[12] extended duration of a housing allowance,^[13] and stricter regulations safeguarding part-time and temporary workers.^[14]

On 27 March 2016, the DPJ merged with the Japan Innovation Party and Vision of Reform to form the Democratic Party (Minshintō), which in turn merged with the Party of Hope to form the Democratic Party for the People.^[15]

It is not to be confused with the now-defunct Japan Democratic Party that merged with the Liberal Party in 1955 to form the Liberal Democratic Party. It is also different from another Democratic Party, which was established in 1947 and dissolved in 1950.

^ 日本に定着するか、政党のカラー [Will the colors of political parties settle in Japan?] (in Japanese). Nikkei, Inc. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
^
The Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist:
- Ethan Scheiner (2006). Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State. Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-521-84692-9.
- David T Johnson; Franklin E Zimring (2009). The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia. Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-19-988756-9.
- Lucien Ellington (2009). Japan. ABC-CLIO. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-59884-162-6.
- Patrick Koellner (2011). "The Democratic Party of Japan". In Alisa Gaunder (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-136-81838-7.
- Mark Kesselman; Joel Krieger; William Joseph (2012). Introduction to Comparative Politics. Cengage Learning. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-111-83182-0.
- Jeff Kingston (2012). Contemporary Japan: History, Politics, and Social Change since the 1980s. John Wiley & Sons. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-118-31506-4.
- Christopher W. Hughes (2013). Japan's Economic Power and Security: Japan and North Korea. Routledge. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-134-63431-6.
^ Takashi Inoguchi (2012). "1945: Post-Second World War Japan". In Benjamin Isakhan; Stephen Stockwell (eds.). The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy. Edinburgh University Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-7486-4075-1. The Democratic Party of Japan is a centre-left party, but it contains a sizeable union-based left wing and some members close to the extreme right.
^ ^a ^b Miranda Schreurs (2014). "Japan". In Jeffrey Kopstein; Mark Lichbach; Stephen E. Hanson (eds.). Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order. Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-139-99138-4.
^ Dennis T. Yasutomo, ed. (2014). Japan's Civil-Military Diplomacy: The Banks of the Rubicon. Routledge. ISBN 9781134651931. The "liberal" DPJ vowed to undo the damage of the "hawkish" LDP, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.
^ Franičević, Vojmir; Kimura, Hiroshi (2003). Globalization, democratization and development: European and Japanese views of change in South East Europe. ISBN 953-157-439-1. Towards the end of the 1990s the social-liberal Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan, DPJ) consolidated and replaced Shinshinto as a rival of LDP.
^ Yu Uchiyama (2010). "Leadership Strategies: Redrawing boundaries among and within parties in Japan". In Glenn D. Hook (ed.). Decoding Boundaries in Contemporary Japan: The Koizumi Administration and Beyond. Routledge. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-136-84099-9.
^ Gerald L. Curtis (1999). The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change. Columbia University Press. pp. 193–194. ISBN 978-0-231-50254-2.
^ Phillip Y. Lipscy and Ethan Scheiner. 2012. "Japan under the DPJ: The Paradox of Political Change without Policy Change Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine". Journal of East Asian Studies 12(3): 311–322.
^ Kenji E. Kushida and Phillip Y. Lipscy. 2013. "The Rise and Fall of the Democratic Party of Japan^{[permanent dead link]}". in Kenji E. Kushida and Phillip Y. Lipscy eds. Japan Under the DPJ: The Politics of Transition and Governance. Stanford: Brookings/Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center.
^ Japan in Transformation, 1945–2010 (2nd edition) by Jeff Kingston
^ Izuhara, M. (2013). Handbook on East Asian Social Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, Incorporated. p. 446. ISBN 9780857930293. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
^ Miura, M. (2012). Welfare through Work: Conservative Ideas, Partisan Dynamics, and Social Protection in Japan. Cornell University Press. p. 153. ISBN 9780801465482. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
^ Béland, D.; Peterson, K. (2014). Analysing Social Policy Concepts and Language: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives. Policy Press. p. 207. ISBN 9781447306443. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
^ "New opposition party launched with merger of DPJ, smaller party- Nikkei Asian Review". Archived from the original on 2016-03-27. Retrieved 2016-03-28.

[1] 日本に定着するか、政党のカラー [Will the colors of political parties settle in Japan?] (in Japanese). Nikkei, Inc. 21 October 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2020.

[Centrist-2] The Democratic Party of Japan was widely described as centrist:
Ethan Scheiner (2006). Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State. Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-521-84692-9.

David T Johnson; Franklin E Zimring (2009). The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia. Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-19-988756-9.

Lucien Ellington (2009). Japan. ABC-CLIO. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-59884-162-6.

Patrick Koellner (2011). "The Democratic Party of Japan". In Alisa Gaunder (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-136-81838-7.

Mark Kesselman; Joel Krieger; William Joseph (2012). Introduction to Comparative Politics. Cengage Learning. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-111-83182-0.

Jeff Kingston (2012). Contemporary Japan: History, Politics, and Social Change since the 1980s. John Wiley & Sons. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-118-31506-4.

Christopher W. Hughes (2013). Japan's Economic Power and Security: Japan and North Korea. Routledge. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-134-63431-6.

[3] Ethan Scheiner (2006). Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State. Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-521-84692-9.

[4] David T Johnson; Franklin E Zimring (2009). The Next Frontier: National Development, Political Change, and the Death Penalty in Asia. Oxford University Press. p. 93. ISBN 978-0-19-988756-9.

[5] Lucien Ellington (2009). Japan. ABC-CLIO. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-59884-162-6.

[6] Patrick Koellner (2011). "The Democratic Party of Japan". In Alisa Gaunder (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics. Taylor & Francis. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-136-81838-7.

[7] Mark Kesselman; Joel Krieger; William Joseph (2012). Introduction to Comparative Politics. Cengage Learning. p. 221. ISBN 978-1-111-83182-0.

[8] Jeff Kingston (2012). Contemporary Japan: History, Politics, and Social Change since the 1980s. John Wiley & Sons. p. 132. ISBN 978-1-118-31506-4.

[9] Christopher W. Hughes (2013). Japan's Economic Power and Security: Japan and North Korea. Routledge. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-134-63431-6.

[Inoguchi2012-3] Takashi Inoguchi (2012). "1945: Post-Second World War Japan". In Benjamin Isakhan; Stephen Stockwell (eds.). The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy. Edinburgh University Press. p. 308. ISBN 978-0-7486-4075-1. The Democratic Party of Japan is a centre-left party, but it contains a sizeable union-based left wing and some members close to the extreme right.

[Schreurs2014-4] Miranda Schreurs (2014). "Japan". In Jeffrey Kopstein; Mark Lichbach; Stephen E. Hanson (eds.). Comparative Politics: Interests, Identities, and Institutions in a Changing Global Order. Cambridge University Press. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-139-99138-4.

[5] Dennis T. Yasutomo, ed. (2014). Japan's Civil-Military Diplomacy: The Banks of the Rubicon. Routledge. ISBN 9781134651931. The "liberal" DPJ vowed to undo the damage of the "hawkish" LDP, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan.

[6] Franičević, Vojmir; Kimura, Hiroshi (2003). Globalization, democratization and development: European and Japanese views of change in South East Europe. ISBN 953-157-439-1. Towards the end of the 1990s the social-liberal Minshuto (Democratic Party of Japan, DPJ) consolidated and replaced Shinshinto as a rival of LDP.

[Uchiyama2010-7] Yu Uchiyama (2010). "Leadership Strategies: Redrawing boundaries among and within parties in Japan". In Glenn D. Hook (ed.). Decoding Boundaries in Contemporary Japan: The Koizumi Administration and Beyond. Routledge. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-136-84099-9.

[Curtis1999-8] Gerald L. Curtis (1999). The Logic of Japanese Politics: Leaders, Institutions, and the Limits of Change. Columbia University Press. pp. 193–194. ISBN 978-0-231-50254-2.

[9] Phillip Y. Lipscy and Ethan Scheiner. 2012. "Japan under the DPJ: The Paradox of Political Change without Policy Change Archived 2014-02-22 at the Wayback Machine". Journal of East Asian Studies 12(3): 311–322.

[rise_and_fall-10] Kenji E. Kushida and Phillip Y. Lipscy. 2013. "The Rise and Fall of the Democratic Party of Japan^{[permanent dead link]}". in Kenji E. Kushida and Phillip Y. Lipscy eds. Japan Under the DPJ: The Politics of Transition and Governance. Stanford: Brookings/Walter H. Shorenstein Asia Pacific Research Center.

[11] Japan in Transformation, 1945–2010 (2nd edition) by Jeff Kingston

[google-12] Izuhara, M. (2013). Handbook on East Asian Social Policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, Incorporated. p. 446. ISBN 9780857930293. Retrieved 12 December 2014.

[google2-13] Miura, M. (2012). Welfare through Work: Conservative Ideas, Partisan Dynamics, and Social Protection in Japan. Cornell University Press. p. 153. ISBN 9780801465482. Retrieved 12 December 2014.

[google3-14] Béland, D.; Peterson, K. (2014). Analysing Social Policy Concepts and Language: Comparative and Transnational Perspectives. Policy Press. p. 207. ISBN 9781447306443. Retrieved 12 December 2014.

[15] "New opposition party launched with merger of DPJ, smaller party- Nikkei Asian Review". Archived from the original on 2016-03-27. Retrieved 2016-03-28.

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