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The Democratic Party of Japan: Surviving to Fight Another Day

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Abstract

The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) was founded immediately before the first election under the reformed electoral system in 1996. By its third election in 2003, the party claimed the status of the only feasible alternative to the governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP). In 2009, its fifth election, it won power. In 2012, after three years in power, Japanese voters roundly rejected the party (Reed et al., JD 2012). The DPJ had simply failed to govern effectively or even consistently (Kushida and Lipscy, 2013). It was forced to share the title of “potential alternative to the LDP” with the Japan Restoration Party (JRP), which surged into a virtual tie with the DPJ (Reed, JD 2012a).

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Authors
  1. Fumi Ikeda
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  2. Steven R. Reed
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, USA

    Robert J. Pekkanen (Professor) (Professor)

  2. Chuo University, Japan

    Steven R. Reed (Professor of Modern Government, Faculty of Policy Studies) (Professor of Modern Government, Faculty of Policy Studies)

  3. Department of Political Science, University of California, Davis, USA

    Ethan Scheiner (Professor) (Professor)

Copyright information

© 2016 Fumi Ikeda and Steven R. Reed

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Ikeda, F., Reed, S.R. (2016). The Democratic Party of Japan: Surviving to Fight Another Day. In: Pekkanen, R.J., Reed, S.R., Scheiner, E. (eds) Japan Decides 2014. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137552006_5

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