Visualizing Policy Networks and Elucidating Political Power Structures: An Application of Discourse Network Analysis

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20748
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 6:Political science and related fields
• Research Institution: University of Tsukuba
• Principal Investigator: Yamamoto Hidehiro 筑波大学, 人文社会系, 教授 (20431661)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 政策ネットワーク / 言説ネットワーク分析 / 政策過程 / 政治的影響力

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research, I used discourse network analysis to visualize the interrelationships between claims on policy issues and related actors. Regarding the consumption tax hike, when the decision was made to raise the tax to 8% in 2012, it was possible to clearly show the conflict of issues: those in favor of raising the tax for social security, such as Prime Minister Noda and DPJ leaders, and those in opposition, including non-mainstream elements of the DPJ who advocated for cutting fiscal spending and cited a lack of public understanding. Regarding the postponement of the tax hike to 10% in 2014, while there were some groups, mainly within the ruling LDP leadership, that favored an immediate tax hike, there was cautious discourse from Prime Minister Abe. I was able to illustrate the political power structure based on the relationships between the conflicting issues and the actors involved in the conflict.

Free Research Field

政治学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

政策形成における争点対立やアクター間のネットワークは、政治権力構造と民意の代表のあり方を把握するうえで重要である。しかし、従来の研究ではネットワーク構造全体を体系的・統一的に捉えることができなかった。本研究では、言説ネットワーク分析を用いることで、争点対立とそれに連なるアクターの関係から政策ネットワーク構造全体を可視化し、政策形成過程や政治権力構造に関する議論に貢献できることを示した。