Japan Decides 2017

Robert J. Pekkanen is Professor at the University of Washington, USA.  He has published nine books on politics, most recently co-editing The Oxford Handbook of Electoral Systems (2018), as well as articles in the American Political Science Review, the British Journal of Political Science and Comparative Political Studies.Steven R. Reed is Professor at Chuo University, Tokyo, Japan. He has recently published Political Corruption and Scandals in Japan (with Matthew M. Carlson, 2018). He has published in the British Journal of Political Science and the American Journal of Political Science as well as numerous other academic journals.Ethan Scheiner is Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Davis, USA. He is the author of Democracy Without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State (2005) and Electoral Systems and Political Context: How the Effects of Rules Vary across New and Established Democracies (with Robert G. Moser, 2012), as well as a variety of journal articles.Daniel M. Smith is Associate Professor of Government at Harvard University, USA. He is the author of Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan (2018) and numerous articles and book chapters on political parties and elections.

• Part I Introduction.- 1.      Introduction; Robert J. Pekkanen, Steven R. Reed, Ethan Scheiner and Daniel M. Smith.- 2.      Japanese Politics Between 2014 and 2017; Robert J. Pekkanen and Steven R. Reed.- 3.      The 2017 Election Results: An Earthquake, a Typhoon, and another Landslide; Ethan Scheiner, Daniel M. Smith and Michael F. Thies.-  Part II Political Parties.- 4.      Komeito 2017: New Complications; Axel Klein and Levi McLaughlin.- 5.      The Opposition: From Third Party Back to Third Force; Robert J. Pekkanen and Steven R. Reed.- 6.      The JCP: A Perpetual Spoiler?; Ko Maeda.- Part III Campaign and Issues.- 7.      Scandals during the Abe Administrations; Matthew Carlson and Steven R. Reed.- 8.      Public Opinion and the Abe Cabinet: Alternating Valence and Position Issues; Yukio Maeda.- 9.      Survey of Candidates' Policy Preferences; Kiichiro Arai and Miwa Nakajo.- 10.  Party Competition and the Electoral Rules; Kuniaki Nemoto.- 11.  Persistence of Women’s Under-representation; Mari Miura.- 12.  Does Japan want to Build a Wall Too? Immigration and the 2017 General Election in Japan; Michael Strausz.- 13.  Inequality and the 2017 Election: Decreasing Dominance of Abenomics and Regional Revitalization; David Chiavacci.- 14.  The First Two Arrows of Abenomics: Monetary and Fiscal Politics in the 2017 Snap Election; Saori Katada and Gabrielle Cheung.- 15.  Abenomics Third Arrow: Fostering Competitiveness?; Kenji E. Kushida.- 16.  Constitutional Revision in the 2017 Election; Kenneth Mori McElwain.- 17.  The North Korea Factor in the 2017 Election; Yasushi Izumikawa.- 18.  Foreign Policy; Sheila Smith.

“Japan Decides 2017 is an excellent book for those who are interested in a snapshot of the most recent Japanese elections. As the third book in a series on Japanese election it is a valuable addition to our understanding of why the same party almost always wins in Japan.” (Ronald J Hrebenar, Party Politics, Vol. 26 (6), 2020)“The series is a boon for research and teaching, but should also prove useful for foreign policy professionals and political risk consultants. Indeed, anyone with an interest in Japanese politics would benefit from reading the invaluable Japan Decides 2017 and its companion volumes.” (Gregory W. Noble, Pacific Affairs, Vol. 93 (1), 2020)“I would highly recommend this book to experts and students alike. This new volume, and the whole series, is fast becoming central to the study of Japanese elections.” (Gill Steel, Japanese Journal of Political Science, Vol. 20 (2), June, 2019)