Paper short abstract:

This talk will examine recent constitutional amendment proposals from the LDP and other conservative elites and examine where they stand in the long lineage of proposals to revise the Constitution of Japan. Special attention will be given to the differences between the 2005 and 2012 LDP proposals.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years, there have been considerable debates over what Japanese politics had moved to the right, particularly after Prime Minister Abe Shinzo's return to power in 2012. Already before his return to power, the LDP had put the controversial issue of a constitutional amendment back on its agenda, by drafting a new amendment proposal in early 2012. Since then, the government has altered the interpretation of Article Nine, allowing the Self-Defense Forces to be deployed as part of collective self-defense frameworks under certain circumstances. Furthermore, for the first time in postwar history, parties supporting an amendment of the Japanese supreme law hold the two-thirds majorities in both houses of parliament necessary to initiate the process of revising the 70-year old constitution.

Against this backdrop, this presentation will discuss how the debate about potential amendments has changed over the past decades, with a particular focus on changes that have happened during the current decade (2010-2016). I will utilize a comprehensive content analysis of more than 40 amendment proposals published by conservative elites from 1950 through 2014 to 1) highlight continues and discontinuities, 2) discuss recent trends and 3) explain how the most recent notable amendment proposals (not only from the LDP, but also the Sankei Shimbun and others) fit (or do not fit) into this long lineage.

Specifically, I will examine how authors have proposed to change key elements of the Constitution's first three chapters: The Emperor's position, imperial succession, Article 9 and national security as well as fundamental human rights. My analysis shows that compared to previous amendment proposals published before 2010, we see a renewed focus on traditionalism in those proposals published during the last few years. In this context, I will focus especially on the differences between the LDP's 2005 and 2012 proposals and analyze what these changes tell us about domestic politics and the power balance within the LDP.