Theoretical and Positive Research on the Partisan Competition and the Development of Diet Management Practice

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1.During the period under grant, I did research on the interfactional balancing and seniority rule for the appointment for important positions in the government and the Liberal Democratic Party. I present a theory to explain their development drawing on rational choice models as well as the changing composition of the LDP Dietmembers. Because available posts were in short supply vis-a-vis the number of senior members in the 1950s and the 1960s, they were distributed in favor of those in the mainstream factions according to seniority. This practice paved the way for the establishment of seniority rule across the party once this block of senior members either took cabinet posts or retired (got defeated) in the subsequent elections. The loss of a stable majority in the mid-1970s and the decrease in the number of factions from eight to five made each faction pivotal, leaving no room for factional maneuvering in a nested coalition game.2.The second research I did was on the institutionalization of rules governing promotion in the LDP.I showed that the institutionalization took place not in the late 1960s but in the early 1980s.3.I did another research into the change in the legislative process after the emergence of the Hosokawa Cabinet in 1993. I found that the changes in the Diet management practices were primarily concerned with distributional benefits and the abolition of practices developed during the LDP rule. One important change was the replacement of unanimity rule by majority rule in decision practice of the deliberation schedule in committees.4.Formation and maintenance of a majority coalition have become very important after 1993. The Hosokawa Cabinet could not garner a majority support for the Political Reform Bills in the House of Councilors in January 1994 because of the defection by the Socialists. I analyzed their voting behavior using a strategic voting model under incomplete information with uncertain agendas.