Prime ministerial leadership in Japan and the UK: sources of power and influence

这个项目的背景是及时的。传统上，用最简单的措辞来说，英国首相一直被描述为相对强势，而日本首相则被描述为相对软弱。然而，我们目前面临着相反的情况。自2010年以来，英国经历了联合政府形式的政治动荡，脱欧公投的余波，以及对现任首相特里萨·梅(Theresa May)未来的频繁猜测。相比之下，自2012年以来，日本已经摆脱了2006至2012年间日本政治的特点--首相轮换，转而在安倍晋三的领导下实现了政治稳定。尽管安倍的一些民族主义政策引发了持续的政治丑闻和社会担忧，但自2012年以来，安倍的自民党(LDP)已经赢得了一系列压倒性的选举。安倍晋三最近确保再次当选自民党党魁和事实上的首相，直到2021年，届时他将成为日本任职时间最长的首相。两国命运的逆转不能再明显了。这个项目旨在解决英国和日本这两个主要议会制度中首相领导的问题，这些问题在比较文学中经常被忽视。具体地说，它旨在探索自世纪之交以来英国和日本首相性质和角色的变化，因为两国都面临着全球金融危机、国内政治和经济问题以及不断上升的传统和非传统安全威胁的挑战。这是一个相关的比较，因为日本和英国有着相似的目标，正如2017年8月5月访问东京期间发表的《英日联合愿景声明》所阐述的那样：“日本和英国是全球战略伙伴，作为具有全球影响力的外向型和自由贸易岛国拥有共同利益，致力于以规则为基础的国际体系。我们有共同的自由、民主、人权和法治的基本价值观“。由于议会和政党的结构和程序相似，从业者层面也有相当大的兴趣更好地了解彼此的政治制度。例如，2008年东京政策研究基金会研讨会和英国-日本查塔姆研究所全球研讨会系列。然而，学术文献还没有抓住其中的许多问题，在对威斯敏斯特/威斯敏斯特式制度的研究中，日本经常被忽略。因此，该项目解决了英国和日本缺乏详细、系统的领导力比较研究的问题。

The context for this project is a timely one. Traditionally, and in the simplest of terms, the UK prime minister has been characterized as relatively strong and the Japanese prime minister as relatively weak. However, we are currently faced with the opposite situation. Since 2010, the UK has experienced political turbulence in the form of coalition governments, the fallout from the Brexit referendum, and regular speculation over the future of current incumbent, Prime Minister Theresa May. In contrast, since 2012 Japan has moved away from the 'revolving door' of prime ministers that characterized Japanese politics between 2006 and 2012 and instead has experienced political stability under the leadership of Abe Shinzo. Despite ongoing political scandal and societal concerns over some of his more nationalist policies, Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has secured a string of landslide elections since 2012. Abe himself recently secured his re-election as LDP leader, and de facto prime minister, until 2021 by which time he will become Japan's longest serving prime minister. The reversal in fortunes between the two countries could not be more stark.This project aims to address questions surrounding prime ministerial leadership in these two leading parliamentary systems, the UK and Japan, that have often been overlooked in the comparative literature. Concretely, it aims to explore the changing nature and role of UK and Japanese prime ministers since the turn of the millennium as each country has faced the challenges of the global financial crisis, domestic political and economic problems, and rising traditional and non-traditional security threats.This is a relevant comparison as Japan and the UK share similar goals, as the UK-Japan Joint Vision statement set out during May's visit to Tokyo in August 2017: "Japan and the UK are global strategic partners, sharing common interests as outward-looking and free-trading island nations with a global reach, committed to the rules-based international system. We share the fundamental values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law".There has also been considerable interest at practitioner level to better understand each other's political systems given the similarities in parliamentary and party structures and processes. For example, the Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research 2008 Symposium and the Chatham House UK-Japan Global Seminar Series. However, the academic literature has yet to get to grips with many of these issues, and Japan is often omitted in studies of Westminster/Westminster-style systems. The project therefore addresses the lack of detailed, systematic comparative studies of leadership in the UK and Japan.