Abstract
American and European political scientists have claimed that subnational elections record lower voter turnout than national elections in most democracies. Contrary to this conventional wisdom, Japanese municipal elections often record considerably higher voter turnout than national elections, particularly in small towns and villages. The dissertation examines this "turnout twist" comparatively and argues that relative differences in what is at stake and how much votes count shape participation across electoral levels. It tests the argument with cross-national data, cross-municipality Japanese data, individual-level survey data from Japan, and field research on Japanese municipal assembly elections.
Citation
Horiuchi, Yusaku. 2001. “Turnout Twist: Higher Voter Turnout in Lower-Level Elections.” Ph.D. dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.