Normalization versus Equalization Thesis Revisited: An Approach from Political Science Research

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25380183
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Kansai University
• Principal Investigator: Okamoto Tetsukazu 関西大学, 政策創造学部, 教授 (00268327)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): ISHIBASHI Shoichiro 関西大学, 法学部, 教授 (40368189)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: ネット選挙 / 日本政治 / インターネット / 選挙運動 / 情報技術（ICT） / 通常化-平準化 / ネット選挙解禁

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Using the data from the 2013 Upper House election and the 2014 Lower House election in Japan, we examined the impact of the Internet campaigning liberalization on candidates and voters. The results indicated that the Internet campaigning liberalization, contrary to the common belief, had significant effect on voters' decision for whom to vote. On the other hand, we found no effect of the Internet campaigning liberalization on the uses of the Internet by candidates. The analysis focusing on district-level is further required to link these results with the exploration of determinants of "normalization versus equalization".

Free Research Field

政治学