Abstract:

Junihiro Koizumi’s election as leader of the Liberal-Democratic Party in April 2001 and then his appointment as Prime Minister amount to a significant change in the Japanese political scene. It is the first time, in effect, that a candidate who does not officially represent a political faction has been promoted to the most important job in the country. Koizumi owes his appointment to the unprecedented support of the Liberal-Democrats, which corresponds in turn to the great support he enjoys from the electorate and the media. Beyond the change in political style that will be bequeathed to the archipelago, the planned reforms of the new government could lead to other reforms, by undermining the very foundations of the traditional structure ofthe Liberal-Democratic party - which the old hands intend to oppose, naturally. But if Koizumi’s popularity were to decline, and the reforms awaited by the country did not eventuate or have the desired effect, then the politics of factions could once again take hold.


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