Theoretical and empirical research on influence of opposition parties in postwar Japan policy formulation process.

Research Project

Project/Area Number	22730112
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	Politics
Research Institution	National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies
Principal Investigator	HARUKATA Takenaka 政策研究大学院大学, 政策研究科, 教授 (70313484)
Project Period (FY)	2010 – 2012
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2012)
Budget Amount *help	¥4,030,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥930,000) Fiscal Year 2012: ¥1,040,000 (Direct Cost: ¥800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥240,000) Fiscal Year 2011: ¥1,430,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥330,000) Fiscal Year 2010: ¥1,560,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,200,000、Indirect Cost: ¥360,000)
Keywords	日本政治 / 内閣 / 野党 / 二大政党制 / 選挙制度改革 / ねじれ国会 / 自民党 / 新進党 / 民主党 / 行政改革 / 構造改革 / 格差対策 / 子ども手当 / 小泉純一郎内閣 / 政策決定過程 / 選挙制度 / 国会 / 政党システム
Research Abstract	This research has analyzed how oppositions projected influence over policies formulated by cabinet and has found that cabinets often took in policies advocated by oppositions to formulate some major policies after 1990s. There are two reasons that drove cabinets to adopt policies advocated by opposition parties. One is that the electoral reform of 1994 developed a two major party system in Japan and competition between two major parties increased. Second is that often the Diet became “twisted” and thus cabinet had to cooperate with opposition parties to deal with policy challenges.