| ID | 117037 |
| Title Proper | Explaining Japan's fragile premierships in the post-Koizumi era |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Mishima, Ko |
| Publication | 2012. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | After Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's highly successful rule, Japan saw the five short-lived premierships - Shinzo Abe, Yasuo Fukuda, Taro Aso, Yukio Hatoyama, and Naoto Kan - over the period of five years (2006-11). This article aims to identify the causes of this unusually high frequency of Japan's leadership changes in recent times. Specifically, it finds that all post-Koizumi prime ministers lost power after a short tenure by following the same pattern of demise that was characterized by a rapid fall of approval rate in the media's polls. It argues that they fell into this pattern of failure for the same three reasons: their failure in economic policy; their poor leadership ability derived from the vanishing of the traditional career path to premiership; their unstable intraparty foothold caused by the transition from candidate-centered election to party-centered election. It argues that the politics under the Koizumi and post-Koizumi cabinets share important undercurrents despite their apparent differences. |
| `In' analytical Note | East Asia: An International Quaterly Vol. 29, No.3; Sep 2012: p.275-293 |
| Journal Source | East Asia: An International Quaterly Vol. 29, No.3; Sep 2012: p.275-293 |
| Key Words | Japan ; Japan's Fragile Premierships ; Post - Koizumi Era ; Junichiro Koizumi ; Yukio Hatoyama ; Leadership |