American Party Politics: A 250-Year Trajectory from the Founding

2020/12/17

Since March of this year, I have been a visiting scholar at Cornell University in the United States. However, due to the pandemic, the entire state went into lockdown immediately after my arrival, and even now in early November, I am still largely unable to use the university facilities. It was under these circumstances that I completed this book.

At the Juku, I lecture on contemporary American politics and political history, but I take great care when explaining political parties. This is because there is a significant gap between the general image in Japan and the actual reality.

It is well known that the Democratic and Republican parties form a two-party system in the United States, and that they are currently ideologically opposed, divided into liberal and conservative camps. In reality, however, the cohesion within each party is weak. There are no party leaders, no formal membership systems, and no permanent platforms. Even in Congress, there is no party discipline; individual members decide whether to vote for or against a bill based on their own judgment rather than instructions from their party leadership.

The system that allows individuals who are not career politicians within a party to run for office under that party's banner—as seen with Mr. Trump in 2016—also weakens cohesion. Recent political turmoil is caused not only by the conflict between the two major parties but also by the lack of discipline within each party.

However, while the parties lack cohesion, the majority of voters today still strongly support a specific party. Furthermore, political parties permeate every corner of politics, with even judges and high-ranking administrative officials having substantive party affiliations. Therefore, one cannot understand American politics without understanding its political parties. That said, American parties are so vastly different from those in Japan and elsewhere that supplementary explanations in newspapers and other media are insufficient. In this book, I have attempted to explain, in the form of a general history, why and how political parties came to possess such unique characteristics and how they have characterized politics.

In addition to the pandemic and the presidential election, 2020 was a historic year for the United States, as political and social divisions became even more apparent through events such as the presidential impeachment trial and the resurgence of movements against racial discrimination. Political parties are deeply involved in all of these. I am writing this before the election results are finalized, but regardless of the outcome, it is unlikely that the various divisions will be resolved quickly.

Since I have condensed approximately 250 years of history into a consistent number of pages, I leave it to the readers to judge the success of this endeavor. I hope this book serves as a reference for considering the future of the United States as it continues to face hardships.

American Party Politics: A 250-Year Trajectory from the Founding

Hiroshi Okayama

Chuko Shinsho

288 pages, 880 yen (excluding tax)

*Affiliations and titles are as of the time of publication.