Log in
Australian Institute of International Affairs - National Office

Webinar: How Pork-Barrel Politics Hold Japan's Ruling Coalition Together

Wed, 10 Jun 2020
10:00 - 11:00

Dr Amy Catalinac, New York University.

Organised by AIIA National Office.

For seventeen of the past twenty years, Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has governed in coalition with a smaller party, the Komeito.  Despite being former arch rivals and unlikely bedfellows for ideological reasons, the coalition has proved resilient: despite landslide wins in recent elections, the LDP stays in the coalition.  Why?  We present compelling new evidence that Japan's mixed-member electoral system, variants of which are used in 29 other countries around the world, enables the LDP to coordinate votes with the Komeito in a way that helps both parties win more seats than they otherwise would.  The coalition makes this coordination "stick" by withholding government resources from supporters who do not comply and granting it to supporters who do.

Amy Catalinac is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Politics at New York University. She earned a Ph.D. in Government at Harvard University in 2011 and was a Research Fellow at Australian National University from 2012-14.  Her research uses the case of Japan to address core questions about "distributive politics" – questions of who gets what, and why, in politics – in industrialized democracies.  Her current research is about how Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party uses geographically-targeted spending and electoral alliances with a smaller coalition partner to win elections.  Her first book, Electoral Reform and National Security in Japan: From Pork to Foreign Policy was published with Cambridge University Press in 2016.  Her articles have appeared in the American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Foreign Policy Analysis, Politics and Policy, Japan Forum, and Political Science.  Professor Catalinac has spent close to five years in Japan, where she has observed the election campaigns of numerous politicians, conducted interviews with political actors at all levels of the Japanese government, and interned for the Liberal Democratic Party.  She teaches courses on comparative politics, Japanese security policy, and Japanese politics.

REGISTRATION CLOSES AT 9:00am AEST (Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne time, UTC+10) on the day of the event.

This event is online only. After registering, on the day of the event you will receive a follow-up confirmation email  from Zoom containing further details on how to join the webinar. (If you believe you have not received an email by 9:45am please check your junk folder!) The event will start at 6pm AEST (Sydney, Canberra, Melbourne time, UTC+10).

AIIA members may be selected to ask interactive questions via video. All registrants may type questions via the moderated Q&A text feed. To join your branch of the AIIA, click here. You must have joined 48 hours prior to the event to register as an AIIA member.

Ticket Type Price
AIIA Members $0.00 Sale Ended
Non-member attendees $0.00 Sale Ended

32 Thesiger Court, Deakin, Australian Capital Territory, 2600, Australia

Contact Us
Follow us: