Malfunctioning Democracy in Japan

Yoshiaki Kobayashi

doi:10.5771/9780739147580

Summary

Many advanced countries are facing a shared problem that democracy is not functioning as well as it should. Malfunctioning Democracy in Japan: Quantitative Analysis in a Civil Society, by Yoshiaki Kobayashi, investigates the causes of these problems using Japan as a particular case study.

Kobayashi begins with a discussion of the current functionality of democracy in Japan. These first chapters examine whether pledges given by political parties are ever fulfilled, which factors affect campaign pledges given by candidates at each election, and if there are discrepancies between public opinion and party policies. The next sections focus on the behavior of politicians and the behavior of voters. Kobayashi conducts a macro-analysis using aggregate data such as demographic and economic data, and then moves to micro-analysis using individual-level data to clarify precisely which factors determine voting behavior.

Part Five approaches the elections which were held after Japan's political reform, inclusive of the 2009 lower house election which caused significant changes. Kobayashi considers point-of-view of issue voting-voting on the basis of the preference of party policies-and point-of-view of retrospective voting-voting on the basis of the evaluation of government performance.

Finally, Malfunctioning Democracy in Japan makes proposals for political reform. Kobayashi's last chapter turns to the future and discusses both positive and possible changes to electoral systems, the registration of campaign pledges, the control over political influence on the public sector, and the eventual eradication of political corruption.

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Bibliographic data

Copyright year: 2011
ISBN-Print: 978-0-7391-4749-8
ISBN-Online: 978-0-7391-4758-0
Publisher: Lexington, Lanham
Language: English
Pages: 208
Product type: Book Titles

1. Contents No access
2. List of Figures No access
3. Preface No access
4. Acknowledgments No access
Chapter 1: Introduction No access Pages 1 - 8
Chapter 2: Party Platforms and Government Expenditures No access Pages 9 - 24
Chapter 3: Platforms and Voting Behavior No access Pages 25 - 34
Chapter 4: Electoral Platform Malfunction No access Pages 35 - 48
Chapter 5: Investigating the Political Rationality Hyp No access Pages 49 - 60
Chapter 6: The Voters’ Response: Macro-analysi No access Pages 61 - 78
Chapter 7: The Voters’ Response: Micro-analysis No access Pages 79 - 96
Chapter 8: Issue Voting No access Pages 97 - 110
Chapter 9: Retrospective Voting No access Pages 111 - 126
Chapter 10: Issue Voting and Retrospective Voting in the 2005 and 2009 Elections No access Pages 127 - 138
Chapter 11: A Plan for the Resuscitation of Democracy No access Pages 139 - 158
Appendix: Politicians’ Career Points No access Pages 159 - 174
End Notes No access Pages 175 - 184
Afterword No access Pages 185 - 188
Bibliography No access Pages 189 - 202
Index No access Pages 203 - 206
About the Author No access Pages 207 - 208