Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan
Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan
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Abstract
Democracy is supposed to be the antithesis of hereditary rule by family dynasties. And yet “democratic dynasties” continue to persist in democracies around the world. They have been conspicuously prevalent in Japan, where more than a third of all legislators and two-thirds of all cabinet ministers in recent years have come from families with a history in parliament. Such a high proportion of dynasties is unusual and has sparked concerns over whether democracy in Japan is functioning properly. This book introduces a comparative theory to explain the causes and consequences of dynasties in democracies like Japan. Members of dynasties enjoy an “inherited incumbency advantage” in all three stages of a typical political career: selection, election, and promotion. However, the nature and extent of this advantage, as well as its consequences for elections and representation, varies by the institutional context of electoral rules and candidate selection methods within parties. In the late 1980s, roughly half of all new candidates in Japan’s long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party were political legacies. However, electoral system reform in 1994 and subsequent party reforms have changed the incentives for party leaders to rely on dynastic politics in candidate selection. A new pattern of party-based competition is slowly replacing the old pattern of competition based on localized family fiefdoms.
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Front Matter
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One
Introduction: Dynasties in Democracies
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Two
Putting Japan into Comparative Perspective
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Three
A Comparative Theory of Dynastic Candidate Selection
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Four
Selection: From Family Business to Party Priority
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Five
Election: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage
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Six
Promotion: Dynastic Dominance in the Cabinet
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Seven
The Consequences of Dynastic Politics for Representation
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Eight
Conclusion: Family Fiefdoms and Party Politics
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End Matter
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