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The 10th Policy Seminar (Jan. 16) at Waseda University Organization for Japan-US Studies, Tokyo (WOJUSS)

Dear colleagues,

Waseda University Organization for Japan-US Studies will hold the 10th policy seminar.
Please visit our web site for more information and registration.
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The 10th Policy Seminar (Jan. 16)
"Why Interest Groups Still Matter in Japanese
Elections: An Organizational Perspective"

Speaker: Patricia Maclachlan
Associate Professor, Department of Government, University of Texas at Austin

Date/Time: Thursday, January 16, 2014, 2:30-4:00 PM
Venue: Multipurpose Lecture Room, Okuma Memorial Tower (Bldg.#26), Waseda Campus
*MAP: http://www.waseda.jp/jp/campus/waseda.html

Commentator: Aiji Tanaka, Professor of Political Science, Waseda University
Moderator: Kuniaki Nemoto, Assistant Professor, WOJUSS

Language: English

Abstract
In the wake of Japan's 1994 electoral reforms, many scholars predicted that interest groups would gradually lose their longstanding influence in elections. While groups are certainly much weaker today than they were a generation ago, recent electoral trends indicate that they may be experiencing something of a revival. To explain this puzzle, I offer an alternative interpretation of interest group influence that emphasizes organizational factors. Specifically, I show how organizational complementarities between large, nationally oriented groups and the two main parties continue to position those groups to coopt a number of electoral functions, including vote mobilization, the coordination of vote gathering across constituencies, and electoral monitoring. I illustrate these findings with reference to associations of postmasters and farmers and assess their implications for median voter theories.

Short Bio
Patricia L. Maclachlan received her PhD in comparative politics from Columbia University in 1996 and was a research associate at Harvard University's Program on U.S.-Japan Relations from 1995-96. After working for one year as a tenure-track assistant professor at the University of Calgary's Department of Political Science, she joined the University of Texas in 1997, where she is now Associate Professor of Government and Asian Studies. She also served as director of UT's Center for East Asian Studies from 2007-2010.
Dr. Maclachlan's research focuses on the politics and political economy of Japan. Her publications include Consumer Politics in Postwar Japan: The Institutional Boundaries of Citizen Activism (Columbia University Press, 2002), The Ambivalent Consumer: Questioning Consumption in East Asia and the West (Cornell University Press, 2006), which she co-edited with Sheldon Garon, and The People's Post Office: The History and Politics of the Japanese Postal System,
1871-2010 (Harvard University East Asia Center, 2011).

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WOJUSS Office
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*WOJUSS is a research network organization at Waseda University, Tokyo, promoting policy-oriented, collaborative research on Japan-US relations in the global context, with special focus on Asia.
For more detail on our activities, please visit http://www.kikou.waseda.ac.jp/wojuss/
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