The Japanese Voter

Description

This landmark work surveys the major factors that influence voting behavior in Japan. It is the first comprehensive study of the Japanese voter to be written for English-speaking audiences. It is commonly believed that Japanese voting behavior cannot be compared to voting behavior in the West because it is not determined by the same kinds of group loyalties, interests, and attitudes but rather by unique patterns of personalistic networks and group mobilization. However this book demonstrates through a wide range of examples that there are recognizable bases of comparison between Japanese and Western voting behavior. It also produces a number of fascinating contrasts with voting in the West, because Japan is different, even if it is not unique. Thus we learn about the relative absence of economic voting, the weak role of the media, the continuing importance of cultural values, the enormous stability in voting patterns, and the effects of the unusual Japanese electoral system. Drawing on data from the 1950s onward, the book includes coverage of the most recent national elections in Japan. Contents Tables Figures Foreword Preface Abbreviations Part I: Introduction 1. Japanese Voting Behavior in Comparative Perspective Part II: Long-term Influences on Voting Behavior 2. Social Structure and Voting Behavior 3. Value Cleavages, Contextual Influences, and the Vote 4. Mechanisms of Social Network Influence in Japanese Voting Behavior 5. Agents of Partisan Socialization in Japan 6. Types of Partisanship, Partisan Attitudes, and Voting Choices Part III: Short-term Influences on Voting Behavior 7. Issues and Voting Behavior 8. Media Influences and Voting Behavior 9. Social Networks, Influence Communications, and the Vote Part IV: Conclusions 10. The Japanese Voter: Comparing the Explanatory Variables in Electoral Decisions 11. The Changing Japanese Voter and the 1989 and 1990 Elections References Index