Is Japanese Liberal Opposition left wing or right wing?

On economic organisation Japanese Liberal Opposition scores −01 on a scale from −10 (common ownership) to +10 (private property and markets). On social and cultural order it scores −04. A single left–right figure combines these and four further measurements that move independently, which is why the atlas reports six.

Is Japanese Liberal Opposition authoritarian?

On the organisation of power, which measures whether authority is dispersed among institutions that can stop each other or concentrated in a single centre, Japanese Liberal Opposition scores −04. Defends Article 9 and opposes constitutional revision; governed once, from 2009 to 2012.

Atlas / Organisations / Japanese Liberal Opposition

Japanese Liberal Opposition

CDP · 1996– · Japan · Social Liberal · Electoral party · coding confidence medium

−01ECcollective

−04CUpluralist

−04AUpluralist

+03SCcentral

−01IDuniversal

−06CHlawful

Each axis runs from −10 to +10, with zero a genuine mixed or balanced position rather than an absence of opinion. A score describes a stated position and a governing record; it is not a judgement of merit. What each score means →

Core principles

Constitutional defence, social liberalisation and redistribution, against a party that has governed for almost seventy years.

Economic model

Consumption tax reduction, childcare investment, opposition to nuclear restart.

Organisation of powers

Defends Article 9 and opposes constitutional revision; governed once, from 2009 to 2012.

Reading note

Coded to show the internal range of Japanese politics, which the dominance of one party usually conceals.

Check a claim about Japanese Liberal Opposition. The interactive atlas measures the distance between any two organisations across all six axes and shows which ones carry the disagreement.

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The evidence for every score

All six cells are sourced. A rationale explains what the score is measuring and each artefact is something a third party can check without taking anyone's word for it.

EC · Economic organisation · scored −01

Coded −1: consumption tax reduction and childcare investment.

Programme textProgramme commitments to reduce the consumption tax on food and expand childcare.

CU · Social and cultural order · scored −04

Coded −4: supports same-sex marriage and separate surnames for married couples.

Programme textBoth are opposed by the governing party and supported by a majority in opinion polling.

AU · Organisation of power · scored −04

Coded −4: constitutional defence, particularly of Article 9.

Programme textOpposes revision of the constitution's renunciation of war.

SC · Scale of decision · scored +03

Coded +3: national programmes with decentralisation commitments.

Programme textProgramme supports greater fiscal autonomy for prefectures.

ID · Rule of membership · scored −01

Coded −1: supports expanded foreign worker rights within a restrictive system.

Programme textProgramme commits to improving the technical intern training programme criticised by the UN.

CH · Method and tempo · scored −06

Coded −6: entirely parliamentary; governed once, from 2009 to 2012.

Documented act or statuteIts predecessor party formed a government in 2009 and lost office in 2012.

Nearest organisations by measured distance

Straight-line separation across all six axes, out of a maximum of 49.0. Proximity means similarity of stated position, not endorsement and not resemblance in outcome.

Countries

Japan

Cite this page

Scores are revised on evidence, so a citation should carry the version it refers to. Version 4.3.1 is current; the revision log records every change.

McGrath, K. (2026). Japanese Liberal Opposition. The Political Atlas, version 4.2. https://thepoliticalatlas.com/organisations/cdpjapan/ (accessed 2026-08-01).

Free to quote and reproduce with attribution. This is a synthesis rather than a peer-reviewed dataset — where an authoritative figure is needed, cite the Chapel Hill Expert Survey, the Manifesto Project or V-Dem.