Electoral Incentives and Policy Preferences: Mixed Motives Behind Party Defections in Japan

• Published in: British journal of political science Vol. 33; no. 3; pp. 469 - 490
• Main Authors: REED, STEVEN R., SCHEINER, ETHAN
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01-07-2003
• Subjects: Democracy; Diet; East Asian politics; Elections; Electorate; Government policy; Japan; Liberal parties; Party membership; Party systems; Political Behavior; Political candidates; Political elections; Political Parties; Political reform; Political science; Politicians; Politics; Research Article; Voting; Japan
• ISSN: 0007-1234; 1469-2112
• DOI: 10.1017/S0007123403000206

Examining the 1993 split of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Japan offers an opportunity to gain greater insight into the impact of the various incentives that influence the behaviour of politicians. Surprisingly, previous analyses of the LDP split have been able to demonstrate only weak evidence of any electoral connection driving politicians' decisions. However, by also examining the role of policy preferences (support for reform) and utilizing interaction terms, our analysis takes into account the fact that politicians at different stages in their careers and facing different sorts of electorates respond to electoral factors in very different ways. Our findings thus confirm the importance of the electoral connection. We are also able to add that a variety of other incentives also shape political behaviour and that politicians do not necessarily all respond to similar stimuli in the same way.