 Factions in Major Political Parties |
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Gerald L. Curtis :: One of the features of Japanese politics that is very important is that the major political parties, especially the most powerful political party, the Liberal Democratic Party, is composed of factions. Factions are organizations, real organizations, around a particular leader. One can go visit a faction's headquarters in Tokyo: they have offices; they have publications; they have name lists of their members. So, it's not simply a matter of people who are in general agreement on some policy or generally identified as being in the center or more liberal or more conservative. These are formal organizations of politicians within the political parties, especially within the Liberal Democratic Party. Factions originated in the "55 system," the system that emerged in 1955 when the Liberal Democratic Party and the Socialist Party were created. |
