Redistricting in Japan
Lessons for the United States
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6277691 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Ray Christensen (Brigham Young University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 259-285 |
| Publication date | 2004-11-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Japanese Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1468-1099 • E-ISSN: 1474-0060 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1468109904001513 |
| OpenAlex | W2140442123 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 1 |
Japan is regularly criticized for the malapportionment of its election districts. In contrast, the United States has problems with gerrymandered election districts, even though district boundaries are crafted with meticulous attention paid to population equality among its districts. Japanese redistricting practices prevent gerrymandering of district boundaries, but at a cost of tolerating higher levels of malapportionment than would be allowed in the United States. I analyze the effects of Japan's redistricting rules and find that they have effectively prevented any malapportionment or gerrymandering that benefits a specific political party. I also show that in terms of actual votes cast, the Japanese system produces greater equality between districts than the results obtained in the United States, suggesting that US redistricting practices could be improved by modeling them after the Japanese example
Democracy · Gerrymandering · Political science · Politics · Population · Redistricting · Sociology · Demography · Electoral Systems and Political Participation · Law · Southeast Asian Sociopolitical Studies
Redistricting in comparative perspective
The Liberal Democratic Party at 50
Malapportionment in Mongolian elections
Strategic oversupply
Local economic impacts of legislative malapportionment
Coordinating nominations
Partisan Bias in Japan's Single Member Districts
When do elections help autocrats? The plight of Palestinians under SNTV in Jordan
Economic accountability and strategic calibration
Toward a Two-Party System or Two Party Systems
| Citations per year | 0.5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2006 - 2026 (21) |
| Highly cited | No |