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•    U.S.-Japan Research Institute,
     Washington D.C. (Headquarters)
    
     1875 I Street NW, Suite 512,   
     Washington, DC 20006
     Phone： 202-775-4161
     FAX： 202-775-4165
     E-mail： usjp@us-jpri.org
   

U.S.-Japan Research Institute
Japan Office

c/o Strategic Management Planning Office, Office of the President, Waseda University,
Totsuka-machi 1-104, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-8050
Phone： +81-3-5286-8740
Fax： +81-3-5286-8385
E-mail： usjp@us-jpri.org

 

Research Activities
Research Activities

Research Projects

The Structural Transformation of Contemporary American Politics and Its Policy Implications
--Between Ideological Polarization and Bipartisanship

Research Outline

Ideological polarization is one of the most noteworthy features of contemporary American politics. Under the Obama Administration, no Republican House member voted for the stimulus package bill passed in February in2009, and no Republican Senator voted for the health care reform bill passed in December of the same year.

At the same time, we should not ignore some of the real and earnest efforts to regain or pursue bipartisanship even in this hyper-partisan atmosphere, especially on such issues as foreign policy, fiscal policy, social security, or health care reform. Although there already exist plenty of studies that are critical of the polarized nature of American politics, we can find only a few researches on the measures, attempts or dialogues that try to overcome this tendency for ideological polarization or a possible political base that might sustain such efforts. Bridging the Foreign Policy Divide coedited by Derek Chollet, Tod Lindberg, and David Shorr, is one of a few examples. Herein lie the significance and uniqueness of this project.

Especially on foreign policy, this research project is important, because President Obama himself assembled a bipartisan foreign policy team which is virtually a coalition of moderate Democrats and moderate/realists Republicans. We should analyze how this effort unfolds in the next few years, for this will make a great case study for our project both in an academic and a policy relevant sense.

Although this research project is primarily an attempt to understand the most essential driving force of contemporary U.S. politics, we will also look at the current U.S. policy toward Japan in the same framework of partisanship and bipartisanship. This policy area is surprisingly bipartisan in nature, given the overall partisan tone of foreign policy debate in the U.S. As is illustrated by the so-called Armitage-Nye Report, there is a firm bipartisan support for the alliance with Japan in Washington. To be sure, there used to be some partisan edge when trade issues were at the forefront of the U.S.-Japan bilateral relations in the 1980s and early 1990s.

Today, there remain certain differences over how to cope with Japan under Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama who was reluctant to accept the deal over the relocations of the Futenma Air Station completed between the US and LDP government, but they are not necessarily partisan any longer. Some insist that Japan just implement the deal, but others are willing to look at the issue from a longer term perspective as well as from a broader context, arguing that the US should not lose Japan on this particular issue. Some of them already criticized the Obama Administration for its unskillful treatment of Japan. There are foreign policy specialists that say the US should maintain an alliance with Japan at any cost in a world where China is becoming influential more than ever, but still others think that Japan’s relevance as an ally will decrease eventually.

Partisanship could certainly play a role here, but there are many other factors influencing the way people view this issue. Wilsonians, realists, and isolationists would differ a lot on this. This research project will include the policy toward Japan as a part of the dynamics and reflections of ideology-ridden American politics.

   Term             April,2010 - April,2013

   Leader           Prof. Fumiaki Kubo, the University of Tokyo

   Researcher   Prof. Jun Furuya, The University of Tokyo

                           Prof. Sadafumi Kawato, The University of Tokyo

                           Prof. Matsumoto Reiji, Waseda University

                           Prof. Aiji Tanaka, Waseda University

                           Prof. Yasushi Watanabe, Keio University

                           Hiroshi Okayama, Keio University

                           Kazuyuki Sugawara, Kushiro Public University of Economics

                           Masaru Nishikawa, The Japan Institute of International Affairs