This paper analyzes the election promises in the eight general elections from 1990 to 2012, and aims to describe the transition of political parties’ position during this period. As a result of the analysis, it became clear that policies that Japanese politicians appealed through this period have become more general. The number of issues concerning nationwide increased. On the other hand, local / specific rhetoric of pork barrel decreased. In addition, through factor analysis on elections each time we examined the nature of major policy axis and arrangement of parties. Then we find out following; firstly, in 20 years, the local benefit orientation was always one of the three major axes, secondly, the ideological axis with certain explanatory power in Japanese politics has shrunk or altered, and thirdly, new policy axes such as education become more important after the 2000s.

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This paper is intended to describe the development of competition among political parties under the electoral system of single - member constituencies with proportional representation, comprehensively from both synchronic and diachronic approaches. This paper’s main findings can be summarized in the following three points: （i） The form of interparty competition during the period of the system of multi - member constituencies regulated the form of the new electoral system, and this served to the advantage of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan （LDP）, （ii） the birth of massive political parties after adoption of the system of single - member constituencies with proportional representation had the nature of a self - fulfilling prophecy, and this placed a heavy burden on forces other than the LDP, and （iii） the system of single - member constituencies with proportional representation, which combines two systems based on different principles̶single - member constituencies and proportional representation̶has introduced complex dynamics into the political process, and these have led to the contemporary phenomenon of division among opposition parties. The content of this paper suggests that even under the same system of single - member constituencies with proportional representation, the number of single - member constituencies （not those with proportional representation） can greatly alter the form of interparty competition.

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In 1955, the LDP government introduced “Jizen-Shinsasei” or a decision making procedure in which its government bills have to be approved by the LDP before being submitted to the Diet. When and how did the LDP adjust to the new procedure? This paper quantitatively clarifies, using data of “ ShuginKohou”, that the LDP adjusted to the new procedure in 1959. This is demonstrated by the fact that the government bills have been smoothly approved in the procedure since 1959. This paper also points out two factors which helped the bills to be approved smoothly. First, the Seimu Chosakai, the Policy Affair Research Council （PARC） within the party, started being deeply involved in governmental budget making process in 1958. Second, in the late 1950’s, the LDP’s lawmakers were widely allowed to get into the PARC’s decision making process through greatly in creased the PARC’s apparatns.

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This article examined how upper chambers affect activities of parliamentary parties through case studies of Japan and Australia, where legislatures consist of two chambers with almost equal powers. We argue that under symmetrical bicameralisms interests of members of parliaments are not coordinated within parliaments, but parties. In other words, policy-making organizations within parliamentary parties are coordination mechanisms between two houses. To demonstrate this argument, we analyzed MPs’ policymaking activities within parties. In the countries, the parties’ policy committees review government bills before the introduction of them to the legislatures. Also, members of upper chambers hold the chairs of party policy committees. In addition, in a case of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, its policy affairs research committee divisions become active when members of oppositions hold committee chairs of the upper house. The results showed that the existence of the strong upper house affects party organizations.

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Jijenshinsa, a consultation between the government and the ruling parties on the drafts of government bills scheduled to be submitted to the Diet, has not fully studied in comparative politics, especially, in the presidential system. Focusing on the relationship between the ruling party MPs and the president as the party leader, this study investigates the impact of the president’s power to manage party resources on Jijenshinsa. Using historical data of high - level party - government council in Korea from 1993 to 2017, the analysis uncovers a presidential party resources effect in the opening and agenda of Jijenshinsa. The results sug gest that a greater attention should be directed towards Jijenhsinsa in the presidential regime and president’s role as a party leader in the governing parties’ policy making.

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The current study re-investigates the question that whether media exposure influences vote choice. To overcome methodological limitations, this study combines media content analysis with individual media exposure data measured in a representative national election panel survey. Results reveal that voters’ vote choice is affected by watching television election news coverage: Greater exposure to negative news coverage about the party that voters intended to vote for increases changes in actual vote choice. Aligning with previous studies conducted under the U.S., British, and Mexican contexts, this finding provides another piece of empirical evidence to demonstrate that media exposure could have a direct impact on voting preferences, which makes this study meaningful to both Japanese media effect studies and the relevant research domains in the world.

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Political process of dictatorship is not known well to researchers, since veils of secrets prohibit outsiders from observing what is going within the regimes. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the hitherto closed political dynamics through lens of “electoral frauds”, which is rampant. This paper argues following two. Firstly, lower - ranking elites within the regimes commit electoral fraud not only to win elections but also to exaggerate the degree of electoral margins in order to impress dictators, since dictators evaluate the elites by election results. This paper calls this type of fraud as “electoral frauds as gaming”. Secondly, I argue that if the opposition party participates in elections, electoral fraud as gaming is less rampant because the opposition parties checks and monitors electoral processes so that elites within regime find it difficult to commit frauds. This paper tests this argument by analyzing results of Mexican municipal elections from 1970 to Low.

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