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Rethinking the Komeito Voter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2009

GEORGE EHRHARDT
GEORGE EHRHARDT*
Affiliation:
Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USAehrhardtgc@appstate.edu
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Abstract

Drawing on five months of ethnography among rank-and-file Soka Gakkai members, this article takes issue with the conventional view of Komeito and Gakkai political socialization as one of group identity. It uses interviews and primary sources from Gakkai socialization practice to document how the two organizations appeal to Gakkai members by promoting the Komeito policy agenda, and how Gakkai members use the same arguments in search of non-Gakkai votes for the party. Social ties remain important, but they are vehicles for this policy message, not a justification for supporting Komeito. This makes Komeito leadership far more constrained in its political choices than is currently recognized. The article finishes by showing how this theory explains variation in Komeito electoral support better than a social identity alternative.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 10 , Issue 1 , April 2009 , pp. 1 - 20
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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