Leading article: The arrogance of power

Six weeks after leading his party to its worst-ever electoral defeat and amid growing political chaos, Shinzo Abe has announced his resignation as Japan's Prime Minister, saying the country needs a "new leader to fight terrorism". The resignation, despite a vow by Mr Abe earlier this week to remain in office until a controversial anti-terror bill is passed, has surprised political observers and leaves the conservative ruling Liberal Democratic Party floundering for a successor.

Mr Abe's departure, ostensibly over his failure to fulfil a personal promise to President George Bush that Japan would continue to back the US "war on terror", is a textbook case of the arrogance of power. Mr Abe, Japan's youngest post-war prime minister, took office last September, brandishing the political slogan "beautiful Japan" and promising to radically reform the constitution and instil patriotism into the education system. But voters struggling with bread-and-butter issues such as jobs and a growing income gap showed little enthusiasm for his agenda. Mr Abe's support fell steadily after a string of cabinet resignations exposed him as a desperately poor judge of political talent.

Revelations that government bureaucrats had lost millions of pensions records – a problem the Prime Minister initially ignored – further battered his popularity and turned out to be the defining event of his career. Mr Abe found it increasingly hard to shake the perception of a man badly out of touch with popular concerns and obsessed with a narrow nationalist agenda, inherited from his ex-prime minister grandfather.

The LDP now faces one of the most serious crises in its history. The party has few attractive candidates for the role of leader, though it badly needs someone to revive its fortunes and fight a resurgent opposition, led by the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ). The hawkish secretary-general Taro Aso is the most likely contender, but his history of provocative right-wing statements and a family background steeped in some of the darker episodes of the Second World War has won him few friends in China or the rest of Asia.

Defining moments don't often happen in Japan where the LDP has enjoyed almost 50 years of unbroken power. And there are serious doubts about what the DPJ, a ragbag of independents and LDP malcontents with a barely coherent political philosophy, might do if it ever grabs the reins. Still, the next few weeks could be fascinating, if the DPJ can press its political advantage and force the LDP to call a general election. And a few years in opposition might do the jaded LDP the world of good.