How about adopting the parliamentary system?
Published: 08 Oct. 2024, 19:32
Updated: 08 Oct. 2024, 19:35
Seo Seung-wook
The author is the director of political, international, foreign and security news at the JoongAng Ilbo.
Japan is a rarity among democratic states with fair elections as it has been under the rule of a single dominant party for most of its modern history. Since its founding in 1995, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has held onto both the governing and majority power, save for two brief interruptions between 1993 and 1994 after a breakup among LDP heavyweights who formed a renegade coalition with the socialist opposition — and between 2009 and 2012 when the LDP lost power to Democratic Party of Japan. Despite the unusual calmness and stability on the surface, internal politics have been stormy due to unending infighting among various factions which took turns in party presidency and premiership. The mighty factions have lost much of their influence after former Prime Minister Fumio Kishida took steps to dissolve factional umbrellas, including his own which had been the oldest in the LDP, to save the party from crumbling popularity amid a fund-raising corruption scandal. But few disagree on the positive role of the factional machine in Japanese politics that helped keep hegemony in check and rotate the axis in power.
The LDP has been guided by “oval” politics — formed by two circles — in which there are two centers instead of one in order to propel competition and harmony through a consensus-building process. The oval theory was originally the mother lode principle of the liberal-minded Kochikai faction and later became part of the overall party. It values balance and harmony above hegemony — and collective intelligence over singularism and unilateralism. Given the nature of parliamentary democracy hinging on election results, political parties naturally must be tuned into the popular sentiment and opinions. With exception of the lengthy rule of the ultra-right Shinzo Abe, the LDP owed much to the oval politics’ flexible ethos for its extensive grip on power.
Shigeru Ishiba recently replaced Fumio Kishida as the new LDP president and Japan’s prime minister. He is considered a dissident, having challenged Abe for leadership in the 2012 and 2018 elections and raising a critical voice while serving in his cabinet. Ishiba’s rise implies a power shift within the party. From my six-year stint as a Tokyo correspondent, I never imagined that Ishiba would end up winning the premiership. He has been popular among the people, but not within the party.
The outsider pulled off a dramatic run in his fifth bid for party presidency in an unusually heated race among nine candidates and a run-off win by a mere five percentage points against his last rival thanks to the backing of two recent prime ministers — Kishida and Suga Yoshihide — and the survival instinct of the party against the doomed path of the far right.
The scandal-ridden party could have lost voters to the opposition if it had chosen Sanae Takaichi, known as a female version of Abe. She could have jeopardized ties with the country’s neighbors and the United States with her frequent visits to the Yasukuni Shrine and revisionist views on imperial-era atrocities. Moderates led by political big wigs have joined forces to prevent the party from swerving to the extreme right. A Japanese friend said he was relieved with the result as he thought of leaving the country if Takaichi led Japan.
There were several other worthy candidates who held positions as foreign minister, cabinet secretary and other key government posts. Each had been capable of commanding state affairs — which says a lot about the leadership training mechanism in Japanese politics.
When I had been a correspondent in Japan, I often heard Japanese people say they were envious of South Koreans selecting their state leader on their own and allowing the leader to govern their country with conviction.
The democratic legitimacy of South Korea that allows its citizens to elect their president cannot be compared to Japanese premiership relying on a ruling party’s leadership. The democratic validity bestowed by the people is undeniably priceless. But we have too painstakingly witnessed how our elected leaders have abused to cover their incompetence, justify their arrogance and bigotry and turn a deaf ear to critical voices. We have seen how far the opposition can go to steal the ruling power. The flaws in our presidential system are largely liable for polarizing the political front instead of widening the centrist axis.
We have reached our limits and should ponder on experimenting with a different path. Some could question if a parliamentary system or the semi-presidential system can really work in Korea’s ever-bickering and divisive politics. But given today’s sad state of our politics, can it get any worse?
Translation by the Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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