Paper short abstract:

This article explores the similarities and differences in the pre-legislative policy-making activities between Liberal Democratic Party and Komeito.

Paper long abstract:

The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito have maintained their ruling coalition since 1999, except for about three years when they lost their power. As ruling parties, these two parties have the prerogative to scrutinise the government draft bills to be submitted to the parliament (preliminary review rules (jizen-shinsa)). However, these policy-making activities in the pre-legislative stage have yet to be thoroughly investigated. This article analyses the data of policy meetings by their Policy Research Councils(PRCs) from 2003 to 2022 and clarifies the similarities and differences between the two parties in policy-making. The result shows that, even with the size difference, both parties, especially the policy divisions, have held policy meetings in a very similar way - examining the guideline, the draft bills, the budget and the private members' bills through hearings since 2012. However, we can also find the differences in policy areas and participants. These findings suggest an important implication for understanding how two parties with different ideologies and support bases could manage a successful coalition.