Japans neue Regierungspartei DPJ und die Fukushima-Krise
In: Fukushima: die Katastrophe und ihre Folgen, S. 187-220
"In August 2009 the electoral victory of the Democratic Party of Japan, ended more than half a century of almost uninterrupted rule by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party. The numerous political scandals and ongoing restructuring in the Japanese party system during the decades of LDP rule had led to a widespread disenchantment with politics in the Japanese population, resulting in declining voter turnout rates and a significant increase in the number of political non-supporters. The political change of power was accompanied by expectations of political observers that the DPJ could stop the ongoing trend of political dealignment among the population. Japan's new government was just about two years in Office when the worst earthquake since records struck the Tohoku region in North eastern Japan on March 11, 2011, causing a tidal wave of devastating proportions as well as the nuclear disaster of Fukushima. Against the background of the Fukushima crisis, this article aims at answering the questions whether the DPJ kept their campaign promise of 'policy change' and 'primacy of the citizen' and whether it could restore the public's confidence in politics." (author's abstract)