 Factional Allegiances among Politicians |
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Gerald L. Curtis :: There are two reasons why a politician would join one faction and not another faction. One reason is that a lot of politicians in Japanese politics — about half of all Japanese politicians and even more than that in the case of the Liberal Democratic Party — are the sons of people who are members of the Japanese Diet, who are themselves sons of the members of the Japanese Diet. And this so-called "second generation phenomenon" sets Japan again apart from almost all other modern democratic societies. In modern democracies we find relatives of famous politicians becoming politicians. It happens in the United States and it happens in other countries, but nowhere does it happen to the extent that it happens in Japan, where 40 to 50 percent of Diet members are themselves the children of former members of the Diet. Now one reason someone will be in one faction and not in the other is that his father was in that faction, and in some cases his father's father was in that faction when that faction was a political party before 1955. So there's a tradition that will lead some people to be in one faction and not in another. But another reason, and one of the most important reasons for factionalism in Japan, and for the reason that politicians will join one faction rather than another, is the Japanese electoral system that was in existence until 1993. |
