TY - JOUR
T1 - Risk, institutions, and policy in decisions to join a start-up party
T2 - Evidence from the 2017 snap election in Japan
AU - Asano, Masahiko
AU - Patterson, Dennis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), 2022.
PY - 2022/3/5
Y1 - 2022/3/5
N2 - Research has shown that Japan’s parallel electoral system altered the incentives that parties and their members face when competing for lower-house seats, leading to, among other things, more policy-oriented and less personalistic elections. What is less well known is how these altered incentives affect the decisions of incumbents to stay with their current party organizations or exit and join another political party. We address this question by using data from the 2017 snap election in Japan, specifically, the exit decisions of Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) incumbents. Typically exit decisions involve considerations of electoral support, policy, or increased office benefits. Our results indicate that policy considerations were a primary factor in DPJ members’ exit decisions but also that exiting legislators considered the risks associated with these decisions, which was molded by available party alternatives, each’s electoral strength, and a unique feature of Japan’s electoral rules, the fact that it reduced the electoral risk for some but not all incumbents who contemplated switching parties.
AB - Research has shown that Japan’s parallel electoral system altered the incentives that parties and their members face when competing for lower-house seats, leading to, among other things, more policy-oriented and less personalistic elections. What is less well known is how these altered incentives affect the decisions of incumbents to stay with their current party organizations or exit and join another political party. We address this question by using data from the 2017 snap election in Japan, specifically, the exit decisions of Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) incumbents. Typically exit decisions involve considerations of electoral support, policy, or increased office benefits. Our results indicate that policy considerations were a primary factor in DPJ members’ exit decisions but also that exiting legislators considered the risks associated with these decisions, which was molded by available party alternatives, each’s electoral strength, and a unique feature of Japan’s electoral rules, the fact that it reduced the electoral risk for some but not all incumbents who contemplated switching parties.
KW - Electoral institutions
KW - Japan
KW - Koike Yuriko
KW - Party switching
KW - Start-up political party
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129321040&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1017/S1468109921000402
DO - 10.1017/S1468109921000402
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85129321040
SN - 1468-1099
VL - 23
SP - 34
EP - 54
JO - Japanese Journal of Political Science
JF - Japanese Journal of Political Science
IS - 1
ER -