A Study On The Plight Of "Japan's Two-Party System"

The discussion on whether Japan can establish the two-party system has been in existence for a long time.Especially after the collapse of the 1955-system led by the Liberal Democratic Party,people have seen the trend from the political reforms such as the electoral system reform and the rise of the Democratic Party.However,with the Liberal Democratic Party's resurgence,Japan's politics seems to return to the era of the 1955-system,which makes the realization of the two-party system impossible.Japan was the first country in Asia to achieve modernization,but it still failed to form the two-party system.Hence this paper attempts to reach the elements of Japan's political culture that caused the failure through literature analysis,analytic hierarchy process and historical analysis.After research,this paper believes that the three layers of Japan's political culture have an important impact on the status quo that Japan cannot establish the two-party system.First of all,Japan's cultural structure has a conservative character,which determines that Japan will adhere to some traditions in the process of introducing and applying Western democracy,and only place democracy on the surface.Second,Japan's social structure is characterized by duality.It delimits the distribution of power in society and is dominated by the Liberal Democratic Party,thereby excluding its potential threats.Finally,Japan's power structure has vertical characteristics,which are manifested in three aspects: authority,continuity and stability.The rulers are used to consolidating the rule by establishing authority and continuing power,and the people will pursue stability,which tends to indirectly maintain the existence of this power.The three layers of Japan's political culture determine that it is difficult for Japan to establish a Western-style bipartisan system.As the compromise between tradition and modernity,the one-party dominant system,as Japan's political party system,may be an inevitable result.