Institutions, incentives and electoral participation in Japan : cross-level and cross-national perspectives / / Yusaku Horiuchi

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910450840203321
• Autore: Horiuchi Yusaku
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: London ; ; New York : , : RoutledgeCurzon, , 2005
• ISBN: 1-134-32246-1; 1-280-10679-4; 0-203-39786-X
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (162 p.)
• Collana: Nissan Institute/Routledge Japanese Studies
• Disciplina: 324.952
• Soggetti: Local elections - Japan; Political participation - Japan; Local elections; Political participation; Comparative government; Electronic books.
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada.
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover; Institutions, Incentives and Electoral Participation in Japan; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of illustrations; Acknowledgments; Glossary; 1 Introduction; Puzzle; Overview; Terminology; Road map; 2 Turnout twist: higher voter turnout in lower-level elections; Introduction; Australian state elections; Canadian provincial elections; Finnish municipal elections; French communal elections; Indian state elections; Italian local elections; Japanese municipal elections; Northern Ireland parliamentary elections; Spanish municipal elections; Swiss communal elections; Summary3 A rational choice model of relative voter turnout; Introduction; Existing explanations; An alternative explanation; Summary; 4 Three levels of quantitative tests; Introduction; National-level analysis; Municipality-level analysis; Individual-level analysis; Summary; 5 Culture or institution? Elections in a traditional society; Introduction; Japanese culture and electoral behavior; Kitagata town assembly election; Discussion; 6 Conclusion; Summary; Implications; ; Future research agenda; Appendices; A Cross-national analysis: data sources; B French communal elections; C Survey data analysis: question wording and codingD A single vote can be decisive: examples from Japan; Notes; Bibliography; Index
• Sommario/riassunto: American and European political scientists have claimed that subnational elections almost always record lower voter turnout than national elections. In Japan, however, municipal elections often record considerably higher turnout than national elections, particularly in small towns and villages. Institutions, Incentives and Electoral Participation in Japan theoretically and empirically explores this puzzling 'turnout twist' phenomenon from comparative perspectives. Based on the rational-choice approach, the book hypothesizes that relative voter turnout in subnational vs. national elect