Dear Colleagues, 

I hope you have been well this week. We are delighted to invite you to the next JPOSS session: 

U.S. ET: February 1 (Thursday), 8-9 PM ET

JST: February 2 (Friday), 10-11 AM JST

Event page: 

https://jposs.org/event/jiajia-zhou-university-of-toronto-clarifying-the-threat-of-populism-place-and-party-organizational-strength/

Zoom registration: https://harvard.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcsdu2qrz4vH9HLKdRWoLnE1DeLZH7o2kJ7#/registration

"Clarifying the Threat of Populism: Place and Party Organizational Strength"

Author: Jiajia Zhou (University of Toronto)

Discussants: Paul Kenny (Australian Catholic University) and Charles McClean (Yale University)

Chair: Amy Catalinac (New York University)

Abstract: In this paper, I investigate the relationship between party organizational strength and populist electoral success. I attempt to bridge the gap between micro-level theories of politician strategy and voter demands and macro-level theories of crisis and globalization through an understanding of local party strength and support for populism. I test my hypotheses by examining within-country variation in Japan. I utilize measures for party organizational strength and party-voter linkages in a municipal-level panel dataset that spans more than 1,000 municipalities and six lower house elections from 2000 to 2014, two of which occurred during the leadership of an anti-elite populist maverick in Japan's dominant party. This paper contributes to literature on place-related determinants of populist support and questions existing views of the populist threat as uniquely tied to a particular ideology or the challenges of globalization. More broadly, the paper aims to bring clarity to questions of a phenomenon that may involve both genuine pursuits of stronger representation and potential threats to democratic stability.

The paper will be posted on the event page about one week in advance. We look forward to your participation! 

Best wishes, 

Amy Catalinac, Christina Davis, Shinju Fujihira, Yusaku Horiuchi, Saori Katada, Phillip Lipscy, and Dan Smith