ISBN:
1283085356
,
9781441972286
,
9781283085359
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource
,
v.: digital
Edition:
Online-Ausg. Springer eBook Collection. Humanities, Social Science and Law Electronic reproduction; Available via World Wide Web
Series Statement:
Studies in Public Choice 24
DDC:
342/.07
Keywords:
Social sciences
;
Economics
;
Social sciences Methodology
Abstract:
In the early 1990s, major electoral reforms took place in both Italy and Japan, each replaced a form of 'proportional representation', (in which voters cast a ballot for a party list) with a'mixed member' system (in which voters cast ballots for individual candidates and party lists). The reforms were enacted by political elites in the context of divisions within the dominant party, changing patterns of party support, and party splits, in efforts to retain power while responding to charges of corruption, clientelism, and lack of accountability. The experiences of both countries provide a laboratory in which to investigate the effects and implications of the reforms, and, more broadly to analyze voter behavior in the context of institutional change. The introduction provides an overview of post-WWII politics and electoral reform in Italy and Japan. In each of the next four chapters, specialists in Italian and Japanese electoral politics are teamed up to review data both before and after the reforms. Within this comparative framework, the authors explore such topics as changes in party competition, candidate selection mechanisms, and intra-party politics. The concluding chapter considers the longer-term consequences - both anticipated and unanticipated - of the reforms, despite superficially similar conditions, the effects in the two countries were dramatically different: in Japan, the new system has taken hold, with minor modifications, while in Italy, there was a reversion to a proportional representation system. As the essays in this volume demonstrate, to understand why similar reforms had such different effects in the two countries we must examine how electoral systems are embedded in broader institutional and social arrangements, and at the complex interplay of political geography, political history, and the rational calculations of political actors.
Description / Table of Contents:
A Natural Experiment on Electoral Law Reform; Acknowledgments; Contents; Contributors; Chapter 1: Introduction: Long-Run Consequences of Electoral Rules Change: Comparing Italy and Japan; Origins of Electoral Reform in Italy and Japan; Italy (1947-1993); Japan (1947-1994); Continuing the Process of Reform?; Changes in the Electoral Rules in Italy and Japan; Electoral Reform in Italy, 1993; Electoral Reform in Italy, 2005; Electoral Reform in Japan, 1994; Expected Impact and Actual Consequences of Electoral System Change in Italy and Japan; Overview of the Chapters
Description / Table of Contents:
Chapter 2: Party Competition Under New Electoral Rules in Italy and Japan, 1994-2009Introduction; Outlining Electoral System Changes in Italy and Japan; Comparing the 1993 and 2005 Electoral Reforms in Italy; Electoral System Choice; Preelectoral Coalitions Under the 1993 and 2005 Electoral Laws; Differences in Rules for Electing the Chamber and the Senate; The 1994 Electoral Reform in Japan; Party Competition Under the New Electoral Rules in Italy and Japan; Formation of Pre-electoral Coalitions in Italy; Strategic Adjustments by Japanese Parties and Formation of Post-electoral Coalitions
Description / Table of Contents:
Electoral Outcomes and Government Formation in Italy and Japan, 1994-2009Five Italian Elections (1994-2008): Bipolarism, Party System Fragmentation, and Alternating Governments; Five Japanese Elections (1996-2009): Steps Toward Bipartisanship; Concluding Remarks: Similarities and Differences; Chapter 3: The Changing Bases of Party Support in Italy and Japan: Similarities and Differences; Introduction; Change in Party Dominance; The DC Party in Italy: From Dominance to Dissolution; The LDP Party in Japan: From Dominance to Historical Defeat
Description / Table of Contents:
Change in Sociodemographic Support Base of the PartiesItaly: Change in Structural Bases of Electoral Support for the Parties; Japan: Change in the Structural Bases of Electoral Support for Parties; Change in Geographic Support Base of the Parties; Political Regions in Italy; Urban Versus Rural Areas in Japan; Change in the Ideological Structure of Party Competition; The Policy Space in Italy; The Policy Space in Japan; Conclusion; Chapter 4: Nominating Candidates Under New Rules in Italy and Japan: You Cannot Bargain with Resources You Do Not Have; Introduction; SMD Nominations in Italy
Description / Table of Contents:
SMD Nominations in JapanMobile Italian Candidates, Immobile Japanese Candidates; Was the Devil in the Details or in the Context?; Details That Might Contain a Devil; Electoral Systems, Political Context, and History; Chapter 5: Electoral Reform and Factional Politics in Italy and Japan; Introduction; From Factions to Parties: Electoral Reform and the Birth of Post-DC Parties in Italy; Post-DC Parties and Electoral Competition; Post-DC Parties in Government; Post-DC Parties Today; Japanese Electoral Reform and the Fate of LDP Factions; Leadership Selection: Choosing the LDP President
Description / Table of Contents:
Cabinet Appointments
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and indexes
,
Electronic reproduction; Available via World Wide Web
DOI:
10.1007/978-1-4419-7228-6
URL:
Volltext
(lizenzpflichtig)
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