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Article: Koizumi is blowing it: Japan's new prime minister squanders a chance to repair his country's economy.(Junichiro Koizumi)
- Article from:
- The International Economy
- Article date:
- September 1, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 International Economy Publications, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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The ascension of Junichiro Koizumi as prime minister has given Japan its best chance for genuine reform in years. This makes it doubly tragic that he is in great danger of flubbing the opportunity.
The problem is not Koizumi's sincerity. Like Mikhail Gorbachev, Koizumi is a product of the old regime, yet he genuinely understands how much Japan needs to change. But, like his Soviet counterpart, Koizumi faces two very large obstacles: his own political party and a tragically self-defeating economic strategy.
Like the Soviet Communist Party, Japan's ruling Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP) is incapable of being the vehicle of reform no matter who stands at its ...