Institutions, Incentives and Electoral Participation in Japan—Cross-level and cross-national perspectives

American and European political scientists have claimed that subnational elections almost always record lower voter turnout than national elections. In Japan, however, municipal elections often record considerably higher turnout than national elections, particularly in small towns and villages. Institutions, Incentives and Electoral Participation in Japan theoretically and empirically explores this puzzling 'turnout twist' phenomenon from comparative perspectives. Based on the rational-choice approach, the book hypothesizes that relative voter turnout in subnational vs. national elections is determined by the relative magnitudes of how much is at stake ('election significance') and how much votes count ('vote significance') in these elections.

Yusaku Horiuchi is Associate Professor in the Department of Government at Dartmouth College and hold the Mitsui Chair in the Study of Japan. He earned a Ph.D. in political science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and specializes in comparative politics (electoral politics, political economy, public opinion, Japan) and political methodology (statistical methods, research design). His articles appeared in American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Journal of Politics, World Politics, British Journal of Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict Resolution, among others.