Changing Party-Voter Linkages in Japan since the 2000s

Abstract

Japanese politics since the 2000s has witnessed an instability of the party system, an increase in electoral volatility, and the emergence of populist political leaders who gain strong support from the voters. This study provides an analytical framework to understand these political events in Japan, drawing on comparative studies of the Western and Latin American political parties. Party-voter linkage of the Japanese parties and voters under the 1955 System had been stable through clientelistic and ideological linkages. However, since clientelism has declined with the socio-political changes in the 1990s, there were no firmly established party-voter linkage patterns between major political parties and voters. This research suggests application of partyvoter linkage models to understand the changes in the Japanese party politics from a macroscopic perspective.