Democracy without Competition in Japan: Opposition Failure in a One-Party Dominant State Illustrated Edition

"Scheiner's argument is totally original, brilliant, coherent, and well-supported with a wealth of evidence and empirical analysis. In rejecting both cultural arguments and simplistic electoral system determinism, he weaves together a creative and nuanced argument that takes socio-economic context, institutions, and historical development into account. There is no other work like it in the field and this is undoubtedly going to become the definitive and classic work on Japanese opposition parties for the foreseeable future." Ellis Kraus, University of California, San Diego

"Ethan Scheiner's outstanding book tackles perhaps the most vexing issue for any student of Japanese politics: how a relatively unpopular party could remain in power for so much of the postwar era. Democracy without Competition in Japan takes an innovative theoretical approach, focusing on the clientelistic advantages, including in the recruitment of potential candidates, available to the LDP and largely denied to its erstwhile competitors. In drawing crucial insights from cutting-edge research on party politics and public finance, Scheiner makes a fresh argument that demands attention from anyone with in an interest in comparative democratic systems. This gracefully written and compelling book is a superb addition to studies of Japan and comparative politics more broadly; it deserves a wide readership." David Leheny, University of Wisconsin, Madison

"Ethan Scheiner offers us the first truly credible and comprehensive explanation for why an unpopular political party has maintained control of government for decades in Japan, even with clean vote-counting in which a majority of voters usually vote against it. His careful analyses and comparisons with other dominant-party systems show that it's not the notorious SNTV/MMD electoral system, which was actually so troublesome for large parties that the ruling party finally got rid of it in 1994 . . . . Scheiner's surprising finding is that fiscal federalism, long advocated for other reasons, can also be vital to the formation of viable political opposition." Meg McKean, Duke University

"Scheiner's book provides an important and broad ranging study that will attract welcoming audiences in several sub-fields -- Japanese studies, comparative parties and elections, and comparative politics more broadly. It will be widely read and regularly cited as it should be." T.J. Pempel, University of California, Berkeley

"Scheiner makes effective use of statistics and qualitative interviews to document his points and a brief book review cannot do justice to the richness of his comparisons" Greg Kasza, Indiana University

"a significant and well-crafted book.' - J.A.A. Stockwin, University of Oxford

Despite its democratic structure, Japan has been dominated by a single party for half a century. This book seeks to explain, why, even in the face of great dissatisfaction in recent years with this dominant party, no opposition party been able to offer itself as a sustained challenger in Japan. It is the first book to offer a clear explanation for this failure in Japan and develops a framework that it applies to party competition (and competition failure) in other countries as well.