Daisuke Akimoto

Bio: Daisuke Akimoto is an academic researcher from University of Western Sydney. The author has contributed to research in topics: Politics. The author has an hindex of 1, co-authored 1 publications receiving 47 citations.

The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions

Abstract: ELLIS S. KRAUSS and ROBERT J. PEKKANEN. The Rise and Fall of Japan's LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions . Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2010. 318 pp. US$26...

From pork to policy: The rise of programmatic campaigning in Japanese elections

Abstract: We examine two related propositions central to the subfield of comparative politics: that candidates for office adopt different electoral strategies under different electoral systems and rely more on particularism when faced with intraparty competition. We apply an innovative methodological approach that combines probabilistic topic modeling with in-depth qualitative interpretations of each topic to an original collection of 7,497 Japanese-language candidate election manifestos used in elections on either side of Japan’s 1994 electoral reform. We find that the reform, which eliminated intraparty competition, was associated with a decline in particularism and an increase in promises of programmatic goods such as national security among candidates affiliated with Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party. This is not explained by the entry of new candidates or other variables that could plausibly increase discussion of national security. Consistent with the theory, we find that opposition candidates relied on progra...

Disloyal Brokers and Weak Parties

Abstract: This article shows that the disloyalty of political brokers causes party fragility. Lacking distinctive brands, organization, and activists to mobilize individuals, parties “hire” local notables to broker votes among a local, nonpartisan constituency. However, brokers may be unreliable agents, regularly changing political allegiances in search of better returns for their brokerage among the module of voters they control. This free agency from brokers hinders durable party–voter linkages and results in electorally vulnerable parties. Measuring how brokers influence parties is empirically complex, but taking advantage of the fact that in Brazil these agents are also local candidates, this article demonstrates the negative electoral consequences of brokers' free agency on party performance. Natural experiments and an unexpected, temporary institutional reform that discouraged disloyalty for brokers demonstrate this relationship.

The Nationalization of Japanese Elections

Abstract: The postwar electoral dominance of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was founded on (1) strong incumbency advantage, which insulated its legislators from declining party popularity, and (2) the malapportionment of districts, which overvalued the electoral clout of the party's rural base. The LDP's demise in 2009 was due to the reversal of both factors, each of which was related to electoral reforms in the 1990s. First, I demonstrate that elections are becoming more “nationalized,” due to the growing weight that voters attach to the attractiveness of party leaders. Past performance has become a poorer predictor of incumbent reelection, giving way to large partisan swings that are increasingly correlated across districts. Second, malapportionment was reduced by almost half in 1994, meaning that rural votes are now worth fewer seats. As a result, parties that can attract swing voters nationally are better positioned for victory than those with a narrow regional base.

Les transformations de l’action publique au prisme des réseaux électriques intelligents. Le cas des expérimentations de smart communities au Japon

Abstract: Dans un contexte de multiplication d’experimentations de « reseaux electriques intelligents » (REI) et de « villes intelligentes » a travers le monde, cette these questionne les reconfigurations qui affectent l’action publique liee a l’energie depuis l’emergence de ces innovations technologiques. A partir d’une analyse de l’instrumentation des politiques energetiques et de la gouvernance de quatre demonstrateurs de « smart communities » au Japon, nous souhaitons saisir la reformulation du role de l’Etat et de ses modes d’interaction avec les collectivites territoriales et avec les acteurs prives. Nous defendons la these que la pratique de l’experimentation tend a devenir un instrument privilegie de la conduite des politiques locales, en reponse a d’importantes transformations qui affectent les politiques energetiques. En nous appuyant sur une analyse neo-institutionnaliste, nous montrons que l’introduction des REI est marquee par des permanences dans le processus d’elaboration des politiques publiques et dans les cadres cognitifs mobilises, mais aussi par un « changement graduel transformateur » dans les instruments deployes. A travers l’etude des quatre premiers demonstrateurs de smart community mis en place entre 2010 et 2015 par le Ministere de l’Economie, du Commerce et de l’Industrie (METI) a Yokohama, Toyota, Kyōto Keihanna et Kitakyūshū, nous procedons a une analyse de l’influence de la pratique experimentale sur la production de politiques energetiques locales et sur les modes d’interaction entre l’Etat et les acteurs locaux. Il apparait alors que la pratique experimentale est appropriee par les acteurs locaux volontaristes comme un moyen de valoriser leurs « bonnes pratiques » et d’eriger leur territoire en vitrine de l’exemplarite. Cette demarche s’inscrit dans une perspective strategique visant a capter les financements prives et publics, mais elle resulte aussi d’un repositionnement de l’appareil etatique visant a renforcer son controle au sein de politiques energetiques territorialisees par la promotion d’experimentations en phase avec ses strategies. Nous mobilisons en particulier les notions de « meta-gouvernance » et de « gouvernement a distance » pour qualifier les dispositifs deployes par l’Etat pour conferer des marges de manœuvre aux acteurs locaux et accorder des concessions ponctuelles qui s’inscrivent dans ses perspectives strategiques, tout en effectuant un controle sur ce processus afin de maintenir la structure du reseau.

Workers or Consumers? A Survey Experiment on the Duality of Citizens’ Interests in the Politics of Trade:

Abstract: What determines the attitude of citizens toward international trade in advanced industrialized nations? The question raises an intriguing paradox for low-income citizens in developed economies. Inc...