Japan's Political Marketplace

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Harvard University Press, Jun 1, 2009 - Political Science - 272 pages
Mark Ramseyer and Frances McCall Rosenbluth show how rational-choice theory can be applied to Japanese politics. Using the concept of principal and agent, Ramseyer

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Contents

Introduction
1
Electoral Rules and Party Strategy
16
Demographics and Policy
38
Party Factions
59
Party Organization
80
Political Structure and Bureaucratic Incentives
99
Bureaucratic Manipulation
121
Political Structure and Judicial Incentives
142
Judicial Manipulation
161
Political Markets and Electoral Change
182
Notes
203
References
228
Index
255
Copyright

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Page 222 - Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes. In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized.
Page 162 - the French admiral was just as far from the English admiral!" "That is indisputable," was the answer, "but in this country it is a good thing to kill an admiral from time to time to encourage the others.
Page 14 - The power to direct the economy was lodged in two ministries in particular: the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI).
Page 234 - Riley, 1989. Politically contestable rents and transfers. Economics and Politics 1, 17-39.
Page 203 - ... political bodies (political parties, the Senate, a city council, a regulatory agency), economic bodies (firms, trade unions, family farms, cooperatives), social bodies (churches, clubs, athletic associations), and educational bodies (schools, universities, vocational training centers). They are groups of individuals bound by some common purpose to achieve objectives.
Page 254 - Political Clienteles in Power: Party Factions and Cabinet Coalitions in Italy, Beverly Hills, Prentice-Hall, 1975 and F.
Page 100 - ... If bureaucrats are writing the statutes (a point confirmed by Table 7.3), Pempel reasoned, then politicians must not be making policy. Second, Pempel examined the use of ministerial regulations. He found that bureaucrats increasingly relied on regulatory measures to implement...
Page 84 - But a willingness to work with the top leadership is essential to promotion beyond a certain point. Party Management LDP leaders contribute to their members' electoral prospects in several ways. First of all, they protect the party's brand-name capital by formulating the party's stance on public goods and maintaining a ceiling on the private goods that backbenchers dispense; and they broker the interests of factions when they impinge on the party's overall electoral performance and policy choices.
Page 9 - The resulting system may strike observers as "corrupt," but it is an institutionally driven corruption: multi-member districts force the LDP to spread the vote around; the party can do that most competitively if its candidates cultivate personal support networks; and those candidates can cultivate those networks most effectively if they manipulate the party's control over the government.

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