A Summer to Remember

Many advanced countries are facing a shared problem that democracy is not functioning as well as it should. Malfunctioning Democracy in Japan: Quantitative Analysis in a Civil Society, by Yoshiaki Kobayashi, investigates the causes of these problems using Japan as a particular case study. Kobayashi begins with a discussion of the current functionality of democracy in Japan. These first chapters examine whether pledges given by political parties are ever fulfilled, which factors affect campaign pledges given by candidates at each election, and if there are discrepancies between public opinion and party policies. The next sections focus on the behavior of politicians and the behavior of voters. Kobayashi conducts a macro-analysis using aggregate data such as demographic and economic data, and then moves to micro-analysis using individual-level data to clarify precisely which factors determine voting behavior.Part Five approaches the elections which were held after Japan's political reform, inclusive of the 2009 lower house election which caused significant changes. Kobayashi considers point-of-view of issue voting-voting on the basis of the preference of party policies-and point-of-view of retrospective voting-voting on the basis of the evaluation of government performance.Finally, Malfunctioning Democracy in Japan makes proposals for political reform. Kobayashi's last chapter turns to the future and discusses both positive and possible changes to electoral systems, the registration of campaign pledges, the control over political influence on the public sector, and the eventual eradication of political corruption.