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2017 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report

Understanding Welfare Politics in Northeast Asia with Multiple Cleavages

Research Project

Project/Area Number 16F16308
Research InstitutionThe University of Tokyo

Principal Investigator

MCELWAIN KENNETH  東京大学, 社会科学研究所, 准教授 (80768896)

Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) SHIM JAEMIN  東京大学, 社会科学研究所, 外国人特別研究員
Project Period (FY) 2016-11-07 – 2019-03-31
Keywordspolitical cleavages / social welfare / Japan / Taiwan / Korea / legislation
Outline of Annual Research Achievements

This project examines the origin and development of key political cleavages in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. Cleavages separate voters into advocates and adversaries on a certain issue or into voting for a certain party. The central puzzle stems from the unique contexts of East Asia, in which encompassing trade unions and left-wing parties have not been the primary political forces of the latest expansions in social welfare. Applying Lipset and Rokkan’s seminal work on cleavage and party politics (1967), our analysis suggests that major politicized cleavages in the three Asian countries have not revolved around social-distribution issues, but instead focus on nationalism, provincialism, or rural-urban divisions.

Specifically, we triangulate results from multiple datasets such as manifestos, elite surveys, voting patterns, public opinion surveys, roll call votes, bill sponsor/co-sponsorship, and newspaper articles. We examine the primary cleavages formed during each country’s democratic transition by looking at how basic legislative dimensions such as the numbers, proportion, success ratio, and duration of submitted bills have differed over time. Moreover, 15 English-language published papers on measuring political cleavages―either explicitly or implicitly―in Korea, Japan, and Taiwan are examined using quantitative datasets. Collectively, these sources include both mass and elite level data.

Research Progress Status

翌年度、交付申請を辞退するため、記入しない。

Strategy for Future Research Activity

翌年度、交付申請を辞退するため、記入しない。

  • Research Products

    (2 results)

All 2017

All Presentation (2 results) (of which Int'l Joint Research: 2 results)

  • [Presentation] Parties, Legislators, and Social Investment Politics in East Asia2017

    • Author(s)
      Shim, Jaemin
    • Organizer
      Europe and the World: Mobilities, Values and Citizenship
    • Int'l Joint Research
  • [Presentation] Convergence and Divergence of Mass-Elite Political Cleavages in East Asia2017

    • Author(s)
      Shim, Jaemin
    • Organizer
      7th Annual Conference of the European Political Science Association
    • Int'l Joint Research

URL: 

Published: 2018-12-17  

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