2021 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Electoral Coordination in a Multi-level Context: Analysis of Candidate Manifestos in Japanese Subnational Elections
| Project/Area Number |
20K01445
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
Hijino Ken 京都大学, 法学研究科, 教授 (90738311)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
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| Keywords | local elections / manifestos / multilevel / second order / decentralization / ideology |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
I conducted qualitative analyses of how mayors ideologically justify policies to repopulate municipalities. Despite potential for ideological contestation, the municipal campaigns were largely disconnected from broader ideological debates and partisan conflicts at national level. The paper was presented online at the IPSA 2021 and is currently under peer review at a journal.
I further developed and applied a framework to analyze ideological positions (particulalry populism) of candidates at both national and local level, with findings presented at two online workshops, one in Austria and the other in Japan.
I developed a "word score"reference set of texts for different ideological families to conduct textual analysis comparing national with gubernatorial and mayoral candidates manifestos.
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The collection and digitalisation of candidate manifestos for mayoral and gubernatorial elections has progressed smoothly, with currently some 800 candidate manifestos collected and made into data using OCR software. In addition, I have also selected and completed a data set of "word score" reference texts (some 160 so far) to compare the ideological content of national wwith subnational candidate manifestos, along with a data set of speeches by party leaders at both levels.
Work on a planned, co-authored paper analysing the networks of endorsements between national and local politicians has been delayed as there appears to be limited variation and number of endorsements for mayoral/gubernatorial elections. We plan to discuss potential alternative approaches.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Now that the collection and digitalisation of campaigning discourse is mainly completed, the next year will focus on analyzing, both quantitatively and qualitatively, the coordination and divergence in policy and ideology positions of co-partisans across different levels.
I hope to co-author a paper measuring and comparing ideological positions of national and subnatoinal candidates quantitatively and another paper analyzing discourse and comparing how the same candidate tailors policy and ideational positions in campaign speeches/material.
If covid restrictions allow, I am hoping to conduct fieldwork in regional elections scheduled this year which provides case studies of regional and left populism (Okinawa in September and Fukushima in November 2022).
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| Causes of Carryover |
Due to travel restrictions, I did not spend any of the funds for travel as planned to local govenrments for gathering campaign material and also to an overseas conference (IPSA 2021 became an online conference).
Once travel restrictions are lifted, I hope to conduct these research trips and
attend in person overseas/domestic conferences. (possibly Okinawa in September and Fukushima in November 2022 / AAS 2023 in March 2023).
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Research Products
(1 results)
