Yoshiki Matsunaga and Dr. Jessica Preece, Department of Political Science
Goal/Purpose of the Project
The goal is to find out the candidate selection/nomination process for Japanese political parties, and then we will test whether differences in these processes impact Japanese Legislators’ voting behavior.
Importance of Project
In order to win an election a candidate has to be selected by their party. So naturally the first step in any successful political career is to gain the nomination of the party you wish to represent. This process of nomination is most important, because the method of attaining political power will influence where a politician’s loyalties rest and potentially affect the way that politician will vote once he or she is elected.
As simple as it sounds, this process differs greatly from country to country, even party to party in the same country, and in many nations it is a rather mysterious process. This is no different in Japan. In essence, the goal of this project is to discover where the political loyalties of the Japanese legislators lie by researching the candidate selection process in the main Japanese political parties. We will then be able to understand the causes that explain their votes in Japanese Diet.
Anticipated Academic Outcome
I will submit my research to BYU’s political science undergraduate journal, Sigma. Professor Preece will also give me the opportunity to present my research to her Political Parties and Elections class next semester (Winter 2011) when they talk about nominations. I am also planning on submitting a poster for my research in the upcoming American Political Science Association Annual meeting in September 2011. Finally, this research will be included in the journal articles and database that Professor Preece is working on.
Actual Outcome
As the project started we found it to be difficult to get in touch with anyone that was willing to talk. As soon as we started to make some head way Japan was hit by the Tohoku Earthquake on March 11, 2011.
This tragedy was a crippling blow to my project. All of the departments and politicians that had scheduled to do an interview with me cancelled. However, it was quite impressive to see every candidate from all the different parties all focused on making the recovery the first priority for them.
The data I was able to gather so far is that each candidate belongs to something similar to a clan and when a particular clan advances in the party members in the clan are rewarded with positions. Currently, I am still continuing my research, but because of the tsunami my research was hampered.