The Dynamics of the Party System in Postwar Japan: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Electoral Pledges and Manifestos

40 Pages Posted: 13 Aug 2009 Last revised: 28 Aug 2009

See all articles by Sven-Oliver Proksch

Sven-Oliver Proksch

University of Mannheim

Jonathan Slapin

University of Houston

Michael F. Thies

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Department of Political Science

Date Written: 2009

Abstract

Existing research on partisan ideology in Japan has yielded a threefold puzzle that scholars have not yet been able to resolve. First, numerous qualitative accounts of Japanese party politics allude to the standard left-right spectrum, yet they invariably devote much more space to discussions of foreign policy differences than to socio-economic conflict. Second, existing quantitative estimates of Japanese party positions fail either to confirm the claims of the qualitative literature or to demonstrate any consistent basis for party differentiation at all. Third, the dominance of a single party, the Liberal Democrats (LDP), for all but a few months during the postwar period raises the question of why opposition parties could not find issue positions that would induce voters to switch their loyalties, and whether they even tried. In this study, we address these puzzles by applying the text scaling algorithm Wordfish to electoral pledges in order to estimate party positions in Japan on three major policy dimensions. Our quantitative analysis largely confirms the findings of the qualitative literature, but we also offer new insights about party movement over time and party system polarization.

Keywords: Japan, manifesto, party system

Suggested Citation

Proksch, Sven-Oliver and Slapin, Jonathan and Thies, Michael F., The Dynamics of the Party System in Postwar Japan: A Quantitative Content Analysis of Electoral Pledges and Manifestos (2009). APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1452119

Sven-Oliver Proksch

University of Mannheim ( email )

Universitaetsbibliothek Mannheim
Zeitschriftenabteilung
Mannheim, 68131
Germany

Jonathan Slapin

University of Houston ( email )

4800 Calhoun Road
Houston, TX 77204
United States

Michael F. Thies (Contact Author)

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) - Department of Political Science ( email )

405 Hilgard Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1472
United States
310-825-1976 (Phone)
310-825-0778 (Fax)

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