| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
A fundamental change in Japanese politics means that neo-conservatives now are meeting fewer obstacles. The wide margin enjoyed by the Liberal Democratic Party led by Shinzo Abe in Japan' s July 2013 election for the upper house (House of Councillors) was a second resounding victory for the LDP, which had won in the lower house (House of Representatives) at the end of 2012. Whether or not the LDP can assume the long-term reins of government, the party will have a comparatively steady lock on the Japanese political arena in the short term. The so-called "twisted Diet" or "distorted" two-house system that has existed since 2007 will be nonexistent. Abe' s open intention to "cast off the postwar system" translates into a dynamic turn toward increased nationalism, militarism, and domestic repression as the answer to economic stagnation.
Neo-conservatives, led by Abe, seek to convince constituents that economic revival depends on discarding an outdated constitution and creating new rules that favor Japan ' s military might
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