Moreover, Japan’s powerful bureaucracy – which has a long history of impeding reform (and has taken too little of the blame for the country’s “lost decades” of stagnation) – was probably not convinced that the election had authorized Abe to push for sweeping change. Expecting Abe to show the same inertia as the DPJ premiers who preceded him, they behaved in the way they always had – advancing their own interests, instead of faithfully enacting the policies of the elected government.