1998 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
RESEARCH REGARDING THE CHANGE IN THE PREFECTURAL POLITICAL SITUATION IN THE PREWAR PERIOD OF FORMATION THE TWO MAIN POLITICAL PARTIES
| Project/Area Number |
08610342
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Japanese history
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| Research Institution | REITAKU UNIVERSITY |
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Principal Investigator |
SAKURAI Ryoju REITAKU UNIVERSITY FOREIGN LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT,ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, 外国語学部, 助教授 (90211268)
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| Project Period (FY) |
1996 – 1998
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| Keywords | Japanese Political History / Party Politics / Elections for the House of Representatives / Tokyo / Elections for Prefectural Assemblies |
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| Research Abstract |
This research project analyses the relationship between local and national elections in each prefecture in Japan. Particular attention is paid to trends in political party power and their regional electoral power bases ; voting data was used from prewar elections for the House of Representatives and for Prefectural Assemblies held in Tokyo and the prefectures of the Kanto area. The information collected in this research has been posted on the Internet(http : //www.reitaku-u.ac.jp/-rsakurai/fuken.html) : the examples regarding the prefectures of the Kanto area have been listed in a publication titled "Local Politics and Modern Japan(Chiho Seiji to Kindai Nihon)" Regarding Tokyo, which was a major part of this research, particular attention was paid to the changes in election competition for the House of Representatives, Prefectural Assemblies, and Municipal Assemblies, and changes in the rate of votes obtained of each party. The information relating to the aforementioned three elections
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was analyzed in relation to the changes in the conditions of constituencies in each electoral district. The analysis showed that there was a divergence between the results of elections for the House of Representatives and Prefectural and Municipal elections in the period following the Russo-Japanese war. The cause of that divergence was found to be changes in the influence of the civil groups that existed in electorates as the electoral power base of the candidates. In other words, the civil groups' influence which extended to all kinds of electorates in the 1890's, began to wane, and did not extend to House of Representatives elections around the time of the Russo-Japanese war, and weakened in Prefectural and Municipal elections in the lata Meiji-early Taisho periods. It was found that the influence of political parties on the electorates correspondingly increased. Additionally, the decline of civil groups and their transformation into lower organizations of political parties was clarified as being behind the expansion of the power of the two main political parties around the time of popular elections. This was confirmed as the cause of the similarity of election results for the House of Representatives as well as Prefectural and Municipal elections. The change in the situation in Tokyo City can be seen in other major cities(e.g. Osaka) as well, and the phenomenon of similarity in the results of both elections were confirmed in the other prefectures of the Kanto area in the post-Taisho era. Less
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