After a month's hiatus, the social science PhD workshop sponsored by the Institute of Social Science at Tokyo
University resumes on Thursday, June 27.* Presenting
will be Ken Hijino, a political scientist with a PhD from Cambridge in 2009, who is teaching at the Keio Graduate School of System Design and Management.

Ken is an expert on local politics in Japan, and his current project is an examination of how the DPJ as well as two newer parties have tried to compete in local elections. In the past two decades, changes in electoral rules and broader structural changes have brought greater volatility and competitiveness in elections at the national level, across both urban and rural districts. However, despite the increasing "nationalization" of national-level electoral competition, the LDP remains dominant in most local elections. New opposition parties have largely failed to create robust local organizations across the nation to rival those of the LDP.

Ken will describe how the Democratic Party of Japan, Your Party, and the Japan Restoration Party have established local branches, recruited members, and nominated candidates in local elections. He draws on electoral data, party regulations and statements, interviews with party executives, and media reports to provide a holistic picture of their local organizations. A hypothesis drawn from the comparative literature suggests that a party's origins will help explain its trajectory of growth.

Hope to see you there. If convenient please let me know if you will be coming.

John Campbell

*Meetings of the Shaken Social Science Dissertation Workshop start at
12 pm on Thursdays and go to 1:30 and sometimes beyond.
The Institute
of Social Science provides coffee and tea and you are welcome to bring lunch. The location is a seminar room on the 5th floor in the Akamon General Research (Sougou Kenkyuu) Building. The building is off to the right after you come through Akamon, or you can go through the grounds of Ito Hall off Hongou Doori. It is Bldg 38 on this map:

http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/about/documents/Hongo_Campu
sMap_E.pdf

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