Jisun PARK,
Postgraduate International Research Student, Graduate School of Law and Politics,
The University of Tokyo
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Keywords: pre-legislative policy coordination, intra-party mode in Japan and R.O.K, intra-governing party management
This research examines how governing party leaders have used pre-legislative policy coordination between the government and the governing party (P-LPC) as a tool to achieve party unity. P-LPC refers to a deliberation by a governing party on a government bill immediately prior to presentation in the Diet. The focus is on the LDP and DPJ in Japan, and DRP, NKP, and Uri Party in Korea.
This study is important because previous studies on P-LPC have emphasized institutional separation between the executive and the legislative or policy preference differences between the government and governing party, not intra-party management.
This dissertation addresses three hypotheses, which relate party disunity, in turn, to institutionalization, to institutional change, and to revival of the P-LPC. The P-LPCs in Japan and R.O.K, which are highly institutionalized, are analyzed using the process tracing method. Internal party documents and memoranda, including LDP Seisakugeppo and party activity reports of the Republic of Korea National Election Commission, were used.
This research discovered that intra-party conflicts have influenced the institutionalization, institutional change, and revival of the P-LPC in both countries. These conflicts had a more direct and immediate effect on revival of the Japanese P-LPC, compare to the case of Korea. Further research on P-LPCs in other democracies will be needed to develop a more general model of the operation of P-LPC.