The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Undergraduate Honors Theses Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects Spring 1-2018 Making Japan Great Again: Japan's Liberal Democratic Party as a Far Right Movement Wesley Yee [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/honors Part of the Asian Studies Commons, Japanese Studies Commons, and the Other Political Science Commons Recommended Citation Yee, Wesley, "Making Japan Great Again: Japan's Liberal Democratic Party as a Far Right Movement" (2018). Undergraduate Honors Theses. 23. https://repository.usfca.edu/honors/23 This Honors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract, Keywords, and Acknowledgements iii List of Acronyms/Abbreviations iv Introduction 1 Literature Review 2 Characterizing the far-right in Europe and the U.S. 2 Characterizing mobilization strategies of the far-right 6 Methods and Analysis 8 Limitations 9 Discussion 9 The Support Base – rural voters and nationalists 12 The Issue – national defense, economic stimulus, and “Taking Back Japan” 13 The Chance – lack of opposition and national security 15 Conclusion 17 References 19 ii ABSTRACT In recent years, far right-wing political parties have gained power around the world. Far-right movements build a populist, anti-establishment support base through the use of ethno- nationalism and xenophobic policies and slogans. This article applies the models and party frames used to study European far-right movements and applies them to the case of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), a party whose policies under prime ministers Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzo Abe have pushed the party from having a center-right stance to having more of a far-right nationalist and populist one. Using this framework I find that the LDP has utilized its electoral advantage, promises of economic revitalization, and populist slogans such as “Take Back Japan” to simultaneously gather support from both center and far-right conservatives to win the parliamentary majority necessary for Shinzo Abe’s primary goal of revising the postwar pacifist constitution. According to my analysis, the LDP is ultimately an old establishment party in Japan that has taken on strategies similar to that of far-right movements in Europe to advance and transform its aims, and it fits the framework set forth by the literature except for the fact that it is a longstanding establishment party. An important topic for future study would be the continued exploration of establishment parties who succeed in pushing themselves toward the far-right using tactics generally employed by anti-establishment parties. KEYWORDS Politics, Japan, Liberal Democratic Party, Shinzo Abe, Far-Right, Nationalism ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS To my family and friends, I thank them for their unending support of my studies of important global issues like these. This work has been many years in the making, and I thank them for their patience and support. To Professor Brian Dowd-Uribe, I particularly appreciate the unending patience, support, and feedback on my work. It has been an amazing year working together. To Professor Uldis Kruze, thank you for hearing out my initial ideas and providing a helpful direction for my thesis. Our discussions were central to my initial formation of this work. To Professor Stephen Roddy, I appreciate your constant advice regarding Asian Studies topics and guidance regarding my academic program. Finally, to Professor Dana Zartner, Professor John Zarobell, and Jenny Alcivar of the International Studies Department, thank you so much for providing the space and opportunities for me to construct this work within the BAIS program. Your collective passion for studying the world through an inter-disciplinary lens inspires all of us to do great work at USF and in the global community. iii LIST OF ACRONYMS/ABBREVIATIONS DPJ – Democratic Party of Japan LDP – Liberal Democratic Party UKIP – United Kingdom Independence Party U.S. – United States of America iv INTRODUCTION In recent years, far right-wing political parties have gained power around the world. Party leaders like Marie Le Pen, Nigel Farage, and most recently, Donald Trump have orchestrated breakout campaigns that cater to the disenfranchised, anti-immigration and migration voters that big money urban politics tends to ignore. These politicians run on populist slogans such as “Make America Great Again,” and promise to revitalize and return their country to greatness, while working solely for the interests of their citizens. These kinds of neoconservative, far-right populist parties have existed for quite some time, yet they have gained significant traction since the global recession began in 2008. As this is an emerging topic, it is important for those studying political science to study these new movements, as certain ideologies (including xenophobia, homophobia, and ethno-nationalistic tendencies) which precipitated WWII are often a big part of these movements and political parties. In response to this need for us to understand all different political ideologies, there now exists a strong story of powerful far-right party emergence and dominance that began in the 1980s and 90s in Western Europe, the methods from which will be used in this study. What has not been studied as much is the case for establishment conservative parties that are able to engage the far-right while keeping their original supporters as well. This appears to be the case of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan. What this work is primarily interested in is the unique nature of the current Japanese political situation since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s return in 2013, and how he and his contemporaries have pulled the LDP, Japan’s most established political party, into a more right-wing stance. I explore how the case of Abe’s LDP is related to and different from that of the emergence of far-right movements in Europe and the U.S. To do this, I will define the LDP’s place in the emerging spectrum of far- and new-right parties internationally, according to established party frames. As information and research about various right-wing politics has become more available in the last 20-30 years, it is now far easier to view political movements as being connected on a more global scale. As far right movements are becoming more prevalent throughout the world, it is important to study them, compare them, and understand the drive that fuels their vocal supporters. The LDP will serve as a case study of a party that has transformed from an establishment party into one which employs certain strategies indicative of right-wing movements. Specifically, this question will be addressed: How 1 is the rise of the LDP’s neoconservative far-right group, led by Shinzo Abe, related to international instances of far-right party emergence? What about the LDP fits the far-right party model, and what doesn’t? LITERATURE REVIEW Political attitudes and ideological orientation are often talked about in terms of a left/right comparison. In terms of the far-right party emergence literature, “far-right” is characterized as having ideals similar but not limited to: preserving national cultural integrity and homogeneity through ethno-nationalism (Rydgren 2005), meeting national needs first and supporting the people through populism (Rydgren 2005; Cole 2005), and in some cases reverting to some sort of new nationalist society built off of glorified history and culture (Blee 2010). Firstly, I will review the general characteristics of the European and American far-right. Afterward, I will explore the mobilization and expansion strategies of these movements. Characterizing the far-right in Europe and the U.S. Since the 1990s, the study of far-right political movements has been growing in popularity due to the growth of these movements, most notably in western Europe. Having been marginalized after WWII on the basis of their previously racist and fascist ideologies, these sorts of parties and groups existed on the margins of the world’s societies for many years (Rydgren 2004, 2005, 2007; Cole 2005). After the French National Front began its electoral successes, several other parties used the same methods and party platforms, based on a new far-right party master frame (Rydgren 2005). The study of western far-right movements, which will be used as the comparison group for that of Japan’s case, has come to somewhat of a consensus regarding the definition of a far- right political party, whether it be in Europe, the United States, or elsewhere. The parties capitalize on rhetoric like “the big parties are leaving you behind” to build a populist, anti- establishment support base in their electorate, and vow to properly represent constituents’ views in the legislature (Arter 2010). At least in the U.S. case, indicating a new enemy that posed a threat to the integrity of “American” values was important, and in the U.S. case the chosen enemies are often immigrants, liberals, and sexual/gender minorities (Blee/Creasap 2010). 2 One of the earliest far-right parties to gain traction after the postwar period of marginalization was that of Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front in France, who essentially pioneered the undermining of the mainstream parties through smart political tactics. The National Front is considered to be one of the earliest pioneers of radical right party emergence in the postwar period and a “role model” of sorts to all parties that came after it (Rydgren 2005). In the 1980s, the National Front slowly gained its footing on the French political stage, breaking up the stable four-party system.