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Issue Ownership and Electoral Rule: Empirical Evidence from Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2018

Yong Jae Kim
Yong Jae Kim*
Affiliation:
Yong Jae Kim is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Global Leadership Program and Korean Studies at the University of Missouri-Columbia
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: kimyongja@missouri.edu
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Abstract

This article examines the effects of electoral systems on issue ownership. This study argues that electoral rules significantly affect issue ownership because they prompt candidates to adopt different types of electoral campaigns. Compared to the single non-transferable vote (SNTV) system, the mixed-member majoritarian (MMM) system prods candidates to change the pattern of electoral campaigns from candidate-centred to issue-centred competition. In particular, partisan issue effects are more effective in gaining votes under the MMM. To support the argument, I find evidence from content analyses of party manifestos and multinomial logistic regression models of electoral surveys between the pre-reform and post-reform elections in Japan.

Keywords

issue ownershipelectoral systemelectoral campaignparty manifestoJapanese party politics
Type
Articles
Information
Government and Opposition , Volume 55 , Issue 1 , January 2020 , pp. 147 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © The Author 2018. Published by Government and Opposition Limited and Cambridge University Press 

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Footnotes

Cite this article: Kim Y.J. 2018. Issue Ownership and Electoral Rule: Empirical Evidence from Japan. Government and Opposition. doi: 10.1017/gov.2018.8

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