Koenkai

Politics deals with power, control, influence and involves the capacity for one person or group to persuade another person or group to behave in a preferred manner. The Curtis piece illustrates the koenkai as political organizations that seem to serve as intermediaries between political leaders and the public. The political function of koenkai in Japanese politics plays an important role in the procurement, retention, and exercise of power for Diet candidates and Diet members. I …

…favors and benefits blinds our view of where the candidate stands on policy issues, morals, and lawmaking, our integrity as a democracy is compromised. Koenkai’s are highly influential and successful when it comes to unifying support for their individual candidate. However, I think democracy’s purity becomes endangered and representation is corrupted when we let koenkais “buy out” a consensus of voters and narrow our view of the candidate’s positions on national issues.