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>BUNRETSU TO TOGO NO NIHON SEIJI [PARTY SYSTEM INSTITUTIONALIZATION IN JAPAN]: Tochi Kiko Kaikaku to Seito Shisutemu no Hen'yo [Between Fragmentation and Integration]
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BUNRETSU TO TOGO NO NIHON SEIJI [PARTY SYSTEM INSTITUTIONALIZATION IN JAPAN]: Tochi Kiko Kaikaku to Seito Shisutemu no Hen'yo [Between Fragmentation and Integration]
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机译：Bunretsu Togo No Nihon Seiji [日本党系统制度化]：Tochi Kiko Kaikaku到Seito Shisutemu No Hen'yo [碎片和整合之间]
For a time, Japan appeared to have something like a two-party system, with the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) and Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) facing off. One of the most important puzzles facing scholars of Japanese politics is why this almost two-party system collapsed into the current fragmented party system and renewed domination of the LDP. In Party System Institutionalization in Japan, Yosuke Sunahara provides an important contribution to this puzzle, highlighting the influence of subnational politics on the national party formation. Sunahara's primary goal is to identify the institutional factors of Japan's fragmented party system. In 1994, Japan changed the electoral system for the House of Representatives from single non-transferable vote (SNTV) to a mixed-member majoritarian system (MMM), combining single member districts (SMDs) and proportional representation (PR). Previous studies explain that the inclusion of a PR tier in Japan's MMM diluted majoritarian competition. Other studies suggest that the DPJ's lack of internal policy coherence prevented it from becoming a viable opponent in the two-party system. However, Sunahara argues that the continued use of SNTV to elect local legislatures in subnational elections hinders robust party formation at the national level. In addition, Sunahara shows how, under the new decentralized fiscal structure, new institutionalized pork barrel linkages by local legislatures and chief executives of local government have also impeded the DPJ from building local party organization. This finding is also novel because, in previous studies, it is considered that decentralization could undermine the long-lasting clientelism of the LDP, which has played a central role in LDP dominance.
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