The System of 1955 as a unique historical phenomenon

The article discusses the characteristic features of the party system in Japan in 1955-1993, which give the grounds to describe its distinctive nature as a dominant party model that was unique to the global historical experience of democratic countries. Special attention is paid to the unique toolkit used by the Liberal Democratic Party to preserve its dominant positions in the Diet. An emphasis is put on the electoral technologies, and, first of all, on the personalistic orientation of Japanese voters, as well as on the lobbying capabilities of influential LDP MPs, which provided them with significant advantages in electoral mobilization. The personality-oriented relationship with electors allowed the LDP to recruit representatives of various social strata. The feedback mechanisms of the ruling party with the society made it possible for the LDP to effectively address increasingly complicated interests and values of individual social groups and strata by means of a consolidated state policy. The ruling party created a powerful political planning apparatus and maintained close ties with the bureaucracy. An important role in the system of power of the LDP was played by the mechanisms of inner-party democracy and the pluralism of opinions, ensuring a consensus within the party ranks based on the interfactional balance of power. The article gives several reasons for the end of the era of the “1955 system”. First of all, due to the collapse of the USSR and the end of the bipolarity era, the dividing line of ideological confrontation between parties disappeared. Another reason was the fact that, by the end of the 1980s, due to the change of the model of economic development, it became impossible to finance numerous infrastructure projects in depressed regions of Japan, resulting in substantially decreased role of political authorities as the subject of redistribution of surplus social product. Electoral psychology had also changed, and the traditional methods of mobilizing votes used by the LDP had lost their effectiveness. Finally, a certain role was played by mass discontent with the ruling party, associated with the rapid expansion of political corruption, in which the entirety of the LDP leadership was involved.

«система 1955 года», Japan, “the 1955 system”, Liberal Democratic Party, dominant party model, conservatism, consensus

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