Japanese Democracy in the Aftermath of the 2024 Elections with Koichi Nakano

Tuesday, November 19, 12:30 PM – 2 PM
Koichi Nakano (Sophia University)
Japanese Democracy in the Aftermath of the 2024 Elections
Pardee School of Global Studies, 121 Bay State Road, Boston MA
Please register here. 

One-party dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has been shaken by the loss of a majority for the governing coalition in the October 27 election. Where is Japan headed? Will Japan return to another era of a frequent turnover of prime ministers? Can the LDP reconstitute a viable ruling framework? Or can the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) present a credible alternative ahead of the Upper House election in summer next year? What is the impact of the US elections on Japanese politics? What are the policy implications of the state of flux?

Koichi Nakano is Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, and Visiting Scholar at the Weatherhead Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University (2024-2025). He has a B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Tokyo, a second B.A. in Philosophy and Politics from the University of Oxford, and an M.A. and Ph.D. from Princeton University. He specializes in the comparative politics of advanced industrial democracies, with a focus on Japan, and in political theory. His recent research centered around such topics as constitutional politics and civic activism, neoliberal globalization and nationalism, and national security and democracy in East Asia. He has published widely in English and in Japanese, and has been a frequent contributor to the Japanese and international media. At Harvard, he is doing research on the transformation of one-party dominance in Japan in the context of the rising tension between the U.S. and China.