Is Japan Ripe for Democracy Assistance?

Freedom House rates Japan as “Free.” But reading yesterday’s New York Times, I can’t help but wonder if even free countries might be able to put a little democracy assistance to good use.

Since its founding in 1955, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party has been out of power for all of 11 months. But this may be about to change. The party’s favorability rating has dropped to 26.8%. You might think the main opposition, the Democratic Party of Japan, would have reason to celebrate. But you’d be mistaken. Their approval rating is only 28.3%. Something is obviously wrong.

Both parties have multiple internal factions; The Times points out that neither party has anything resembling a coherent ideology. And Japanese voters may indeed want to “throw the bums out,” but they have little confidence in an alternative that is strikingly inexperienced in governing.

Both parties need to get back to basics, and find out what is important to voters in the here and now. It’s a safe bet the economy is on their minds. CNN reports that that the Japanese economy is at its worst since the end of World War II. So a winning Japanese party will need a good plan for that.

But no one is against economic recovery, so they’ll also each need a distinguishing message. This is where polling and focus groups could come in. Who’s tough on crime? Who will fight corruption? Who can work well with international partners? Who can promise their finance minister won’t be tipsy on “cold medicine” during overseas press conferences? On a more serious note, some Japanese want to engage in a public debate about whether or not to retain the country’s peace constitution, Article 9 of which renounces war as a sovereign right. Certainly this is something that should be subject to vigorous and meaningful public discourse.

And you can be sure that grassroots party activism is suffering when the most popular party can only summon the support of 28.3% of the people, so while we’re at it, the democracy assistance community might have something useful to say about energizing party grassroots.

Of course, this suggestion is a little tongue-in-cheek. But why throw all the D&G money at hopeless cases? Our friends might be able to use a little help, too.