2023 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
Political Debasement in Japan and Its Challenges: New Directions in the Study of Deliberative Political Communication
| Project/Area Number |
23K01245
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| Research Institution | Doshisha University |
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Principal Investigator |
FELDMAN Ofer 同志社大学, 研究開発推進機構, 嘱託研究員 (50208906)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2023-04-01 – 2026-03-31
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| Keywords | political communication / rhetoric / debasing rhetoric / discourse analysis / Japan / Diet members |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
This research features a pioneering study aims to examine debasement discourse, its forms, and functions, within the broad framework of political behavior and communication in Japan. Data was collected from the record of the 211th Diet session meetings of the 2023 Budget Committees in both houses of the National Diet. The analysis includes 3,233 questions Diet members posed to the prime minister and members of his Cabinet. It covers a total of 29 sessions, including items No. 2 to 15 of the House of Representatives (from January 30 through February 28, 2023), and items No. 2 to 16 of the House of Councillors (March 1 through March 28, 2023). A total of 226 Diet members from all the political parties that participated in these meetings were included in the analysis (i.e., The Liberal Democratic Party, Japan Innovation Party, Komeito, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party, the Communist Party, the Democratic Party for the People, NHK Party, the Reiwa Shinsengumi, and Yushi no Kai): 132 and 94 members of the House of Representatives and the House of Councillors, respectively. In 2023, this data was coded in the coding sheet and the initial level of analysis started with the aim to identify first debasement comments and examine the linkage between the use of such language and a list of socio-political variables.
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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
Considering the processes of both data collection and initial analysis of the data it can be said that at present this study is progressing rather smoothly.
As for the data collection: Data was collected from the meetings of the 2023 Budget Committees in both houses of the parliament. It covers a total of 29 sessions, including those in the lower house (from January 30 through February 28, 2023), and the upper house (March 1 through March 28, 2023). A total of 226 Diet members that participated in these meetings were included in the analysis: 132 and 94 members of the lower and the upper houses, respectively. Using a coding sheet designed specifically for this study, data was coded by well-trained coders working closely with the principal researcher. Further data was gathered from the Diet Handbook [kokkai binran], and the Diet websites regarding the attributes of Diet members who participated in the meetings of the committees.
Regarding the data analysis: At the center of the analysis are 3,233 questions Diet members from the opposition parties posed to the Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet. The analysis focuses now on both the verbal behavior of Diet members in the committees, as well as their attributes of the questioners in terms of their political party affiliation, age, gender, number of times elected, professional career, and their basis of election system.
Data collection and data analysis are still in progress. Yet, at this stage the study smoothly progress.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
In the following month I plan to further gather data through analysis of newspapers’ articles and editorials, politicians’ speeches, and televised interviews. Simultaneously, I plan to meet Diet members to discuss with them issues related to their speeches in front of supporters and fellow politicians, and aspects that affect their Diet addresses. The above data, including the data gathered during Diet Budget Committees (see above) will be analyzed data and presented in domestic and international academic meetings, with the intention to put feedback and suggestions for these results in a meaningful scholarly publishable framework. Upon completion of the analysis I will collaborate with Michael Krasner (City University of New York, USA), Sonja Zmerli (Grenoble University, France), Annemarie Walter (University of Nottingham, UK), and Sam Lehman- Wilzig (Bar-Ilan University, Israel) on a research project, detailing, from a cross-national, cross-cultural perspectives, the role and affect played by debasement discourse in the political process of contemporary democratic states.
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| Causes of Carryover |
(理由) This is because the coders who helped with the coding of the data were keen in their work and ended earlier than the planed schedule for this year.
(使用計画) In the next fiscal year, as in this fiscal year, I intend to use personnel expenses for such goals as analyzing the collected data, following the news media articles and interviews on politicians' rhetoric, and initiating interviews with Diet members in order to broaden the knowledge on their rhetorical manner and style. In addition, expenses will be used for editing/rewriting papers before presenting them in international associations and in international journals and books. For that matter part of the expenses will be used to participation in international scientific meetings and for collaboration in research with Europeans and American colleagues.
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