Corruption is a threat to democracy and economic development in many societies. It arises in the ways people pursue, use and exchange wealth and power, and in the strength or weakness of the state, political and social institutions that sustain and restrain those processes. Differences in these factors, Michael Johnston argues, give rise to four major syndromes of corruption: Influence Markets, Elite Cartels, Oligarchs and Clans, and Official Moguls. In this 2005 book, Johnston uses statistical measures to identify societies in each group, and case studies to show that the expected syndromes do arise. Countries studied include the United States, Japan and Germany (Influence Markets); Italy, Korea and Botswana (Elite Cartels); Russia, the Philippines and Mexico (Oligarchs and Clans); and China, Kenya, and Indonesia (Offical Moguls). A concluding chapter explores reform, emphasising the ways familiar measures should be applied - or withheld, lest they do harm - with an emphasis upon the value of 'deep democratisation'.

/pdf/syndromes-of-corruption-wealth-power-and-democracy-3te6kzx90h.pdf

Syndromes of Corruption: Wealth, Power, and Democracy

Despite its democratic structure, Japan's government has been dominated by a single party, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 1955. This book offers an explanation for why, even in the face of great dissatisfaction with the LDP, no opposition party has been able to offer itself as a credible challenger in Japan. Understanding such failure is important for many reasons, from its effect on Japanese economic policy to its implications for what facilitates democratic responsiveness more broadly. The principal explanations for opposition failure in Japan focus on the country's culture and electoral system. This book offers a new interpretation, arguing that a far more plausible explanation rests on the predominance in Japan of clientelism, combined with a centralized government structure and electoral protection for groups that benefit from clientelism. While the central case in the book is Japan, the analysis is also comparative and applies the framework cross-nationally.

/pdf/democracy-without-competition-in-japan-opposition-failure-in-188t3frptk.pdf

Democracy without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State

The past decade has witnessed a surprising growth in the popularity of mixed-member electoral systems. Under these systems, voters choose representatives simultaneously under both proportional representation (PR) and single-member district plurality (SMDP) rules. It is widely accepted that SMDP rules tend to winnow competition down toward two large parties, and evidence from mixed systems suggests that this Duvergerian “gravity” reduces the number of parties surviving SMDP competition under mixed systems as well. Nevertheless, we argue, simultaneous balloting under PR rules softens this winnowing effect, operating as a “centrifugal force” that prevents Duvergerian gravity from reducing competition to the degree it does under pure SMDP systems. Thus, these newsystems produce effects unanticipated by their designers. To test for the presence of this centrifugal force, we examine elite-level electoral strategies in Germany, Japan, and Italy and compare district-level SMDP election results from pure systems w...

https://people.virginia.edu/~ljs2k/cps03.pdf

Interaction Effects in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems Theory and Evidence From Germany, Japan, and Italy

1. Introduction Part I. Building Blocks: 2. What motivates actors? 3. From motivations to outcomes: exogenous factors 4. The reform process: endogenous factors Part II. Elite Majority Imposition: 5. France: the recurrent game of electoral reform 6. Italy: the search for stability 7. Japan: the persistence of SNTV 8. Elite majority imposition: comparative analysis Part III. Elite-Mass Interaction: 9. Italy: diluting proportional representation 10. Japan: the abandonment of SNTV 11. New Zealand: MMP in a Westminster setting 12. Elite-mass interaction: comparative analysis 13. Conclusions and implications Appendix: Glossary of electoral system terminology.

/pdf/the-politics-of-electoral-reform-changing-the-rules-of-37yksg8h0j.pdf

The Politics of Electoral Reform: Changing the Rules of Democracy

Does reapportionment in a legislature affect policy outcomes? We examine this question from a comparative perspective by focusing on reapportionment associated with the electoral reform in Japan. First, we show that the reform of 1994 resulted in an unprecedented degree of equalization in legislative representation. Second, using municipal-level data, we present evidence that municipalities in overrepresented districts received significantly more subsidies per capita, as compared to those in underrepresented districts, in both prereform and postreform years. Third, by examining the relationship between the change in the number of seats per capita and the change in the amount of subsidies per capita at the municipal level, we show that the equalization in voting strength resulted in an equalization of total transfers per person.

Reapportionment and Redistribution: Consequences of Electoral Reform in Japan

Japan's Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro has attempted to reform both Japan's economy and the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Despite his party's landslide victory in the 2005 election, Koizumi's political reforms are unlikely to have a lasting impact on either party or electoral politics.

An Analysis of the 2005 Japanese General Election: Will Koizumi's Political Reforms Endure?

In 1993, Japanese politics entered a period of turmoil and upheaval. Along with a variety of coalition governments and the creation of new political parties, promises of various types of reform have been legion. The first major reform of this period was the decision in 1994 to create a new election system for Japan. Reformers promised that the single-member districts of this new system would lead to the creation of two centrist political parties. They also promised that these two parties would contest elections based on issues, presenting voters a real choice between two mainstream parties. The results of the first election held under this system in 1996 raise doubts about the promised effects of the reforms. In a series of 49 interviews with politicians and campaign operatives conducted in seven of Japan's 47 prefectures, I found that politicians have not been campaigning based on issues. The promised change did not occur for three reasons. First is the continuity of many strict campaign regulations in Japan that make it difficult for candidates to make any general appeal (issue-oriented or otherwise) to the voters. Second, the drawing of district boundaries for the new single-member election districts created opportunities for politicians to switch parties opportunistically in order to secure a party nomination in their preferred district. This switching undercut the already weak claims of significant ideological or policy differences among the parties. Third, new district boundaries separated

The Effect of Electoral Reforms on Campaign Practices in Japan: Putting New Wine into Old Bottles

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An Analysis of the 2005 Japanese General Election: Will Koizumi's Political Reforms Endure?

The Effect of Electoral Reforms on Campaign Practices in Japan: Putting New Wine into Old Bottles