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Hmm it's not a democracy in the traditional sense. A single party has been in power for 40+ years.

• twblalock 8y ago
  > Hmm it's not a democracy in the traditional sense. A single party has been in power for 40+ years. Thats not true. One party has been dominant over the past 40+ years because it won most of the elections, which are free and fair elections according to international standards. Plenty of opposition parties have been active the entire time, they just weren't popular enough to win. They are not suppressed or restricted or thrown in jail -- they just aren't able to convince the voters. There have been periods, including quite recently, when opposition parties held power. Their performance while in power caused the voters to vote for the dominant party next time.
• Symmetry 8y ago
  You're a bit out of date, the DPJ managed to get into office recently before losing to the LDP again.
• lkrubner 8y ago
  In the USA the Democrats held the House from 1954 to 1994, which is 40 years, but people felt the USA was still a democracy during this time. Even in competitive political systems, sometimes one party puts together a broad coalition that can hold power for decades.
  • twblalock 8y ago
    Another example is the UK Conservative Party holding power for 18 years from 1979 to 1997 by winning every election during that period. It would not have been reasonable to say the UK was not a democracy in that period -- it was just the case that the voters preferred one party the entire time.