The Japanese Liberal-Democratic party and policy-making

Abstract

Numerous articles and several books have been already written on various aspects of party politics in postwar Japan, including treatments of the conservative parties. These have been mainly in Japanese by Japanese authors but some also have been written by foreign scholars. Few detailed studies, however, of the actual process of policy-making in the Liberal-Democratic Party, have yet been undertaken despite the growing awareness of the urgent need for a better understanding of the government and politics in contemporary Japan, of which this is an important aspect.