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Local level political and institutional changes in Japan: An end to political alienation?

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Abstract

Background

In Japan, a steady increase of non-voters is evident on the national and local levels over the past few decades. However, since the mid-1990s, a new wave of political participation at the local level has attracted politicians as well as social scientists. Citizen participation is increasing in terms of the number of non-profit organizations, participatory procedures, and engagement in new political networks. Citizens growing involvement in local politics coincides with institutional changes that offer new autonomy in respect of local policy-making.

Objectives

In this paper, we will argue that these local trends might have an impact on national politics through the repolitization of citizens. However, preconditions are, ceteris paribus, the restoration of political trust through participation and institutional changes that support citizen involvement in politics.

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Notes

  1. In interpreting voter turnout rates, one should distinguish between long-term trends caused by major structural determinants and short-term fluctuations caused by political polarizations idiosyncratic to a specific election.

  2. The respondents were asked, “What party do you support?”

  3. The local government system in Japan is a two-tiered system, comprising 47 prefectures and approximately 2,000 municipalities (special Tokyo wards, designated (largest) cities, cities, towns and villages). The political and administrative structures are based on a popularly elected executive (the governor of prefectures, the mayor of municipalities) and an assembly. The assembly members, governor and mayor are elected once every 4 years.

  4. The survey has been conducted every five years since 1976 by the Statistical Bureau, Ministry of Public management, Home Affairs, Posts and Telecommunications, with the 6th survey done in October 2001. It collects data on 77 thousand households constituting 210 thousand people. For details see: http://www.stat.go.jp/english/data/shakai/2001/kodo/yoyakuk.htm

  5. In 2002, the number of DPJ party members was about 300,000. See Yomiuri nenkan 2003: 157.

  6. Seikatsusha literally means “consumer”, but according to them it should be translated as “citizen”: “Seikatsusha=people who live, in the sense of inhabitants rather than consumers.” See: Seikatsu Club 2004: 8.

  7. On the history of the SCCU also see Eto 2005: 323ff.

  8. In its early years, a few left-wing male activists ran the SCCU. The men thus in effect wielded the power in the group. Nowadays female members, who have gained experience and acquired a great deal of expertise, wield real power in the movement, taking responsibility for all its activities (Eto 2005: 330).

  9. The Japanese Communist party has actively recruited female candidates since the late 1960s, which is why the percentage of JCP members of all the female incumbents at the local level is very high.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department for Japanese Studies, Martin Luther University of Halle, Wittenberg, Germany

    Gesine Foljanty-Jost

  2. Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Osnabrueck, Wittenberg, Germany

    Carmen Schmidt

Authors
  1. Gesine Foljanty-Jost
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  2. Carmen Schmidt
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Carmen Schmidt.

Additional information

The authors have been engaged in a project on “Civil Society in Japan: Partnership as a New Item of Japan’s Local Politics” since 1 March 2006. The project is located at the Department for Japanese Studies at the Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) and financed by the German Research Foundation (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, DFG).

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Foljanty-Jost, G., Schmidt, C. Local level political and institutional changes in Japan: An end to political alienation?. AEJ 4, 381–397 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10308-006-0076-0

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