Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T21:41:39.105Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dual Defection Incentives in One System: Party Switching under Taiwan's Single non-transferable Vote

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 October 2015

ALEX CHANG  and
YEN-CHEN TANG
ALEX CHANG
Affiliation:
Assistant Research Fellow, Institute of Political Science, Academia Sinica, [email protected]
YEN-CHEN TANG
Affiliation:
Lecturer, Department of Political Science, National Taiwan [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Political scientists generally consider that the incentive for legislators to switch parties lies in their desire to be re-elected. While some scholars attribute defection to the legislators’ popularity and strong connections with their constituents which enable them to be re-elected without relying on party labels, others assert that legislators switch if they perceive that staying put might threaten their chances of re-election. In this paper, we find that the two assumptions, to some extent, contradict each other. More surprisingly, the two contradictory hypotheses cohabit under the single non-transferable vote (SNTV) system. From an analysis of the switching in the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan, the empirical evidence shows that because of fierce intraparty competition in the multimember districts, not only barely elected but also top-ranked legislators switched party affiliation in order to avoid the loss in votes or even seats to their copartisans and to maximize their chances of re-election.

Type
Research Article
Information
Japanese Journal of Political Science , Volume 16 , Issue 4 , December 2015 , pp. 489 - 506
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ágh, Attila (1999), ‘The Parliamentarization of the East Central European Parties: Party Discipline in the Hungarian parliament, 1990–1996’, in Bowler, D. M. and Katz, R. S. (eds.), Party Discipline and Parliamentary Government, Columbus: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar
Aldrich, John H. and Bianco, William T. (1992), ‘A Game-Theoretic Model of Party Affiliation of Candidates and Office Holders’, Mathematical Computer Modelling, 16 (8/9): 103–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ames, Barry (1995a), ‘Electoral Strategy under Open-List Proportional Representation’, American Journal of Political Science, 39 (2): 406–33.Google Scholar
Ames, Barry (1995b), ‘Electoral Rules, Constituency Pressures, and Pork Barrel: Bases of Voting in the Brazilian Congress’, Journal of Politics, 57 (2): 324–43.Google Scholar
Ames, Barry (2002), The Deadlock of Democracy in Brazil, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Baerwald, Hans H. (1986), Party Politics in Japan, Boston, MA: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Batto, Nathan F. (2008), ‘Strategic Defection from Strong Candidates in the 2004 Taiwanese Legislative Election’, Japanese Journal of Political Science, 9 (1): 21–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernstein, Robert A. (1986), ‘Why Are There So Few Women in the House?’ Western Political Quarterly, 39 (1): 155–64.Google Scholar
Bergman, Matthew E., Shugart, Matthew S. and Watt, Kevin A. (2013), ‘Patterns of intraparty competition in open-list & SNTV systems’, Electoral Studies, 32 (2): 321–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bledsoe, Timothy and Herring, Mary (1990), ‘Victims of Circumstances: Women in Pursuit of Political Office’, American Political Science Review, 84 (1): 213–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradbury, John C. and Crain, W. Mark (2001), ‘Legislative Organization and Government Spending: Cross-Country Evidence’, Journal of Public Economics, 82 (3): 309–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carey, John and Shugart, Matthew (1995), ‘Incentives to Cultivate a Personal Vote: A Rank Ordering of Electoral Formulas’, Electoral Studies, 14: 417–39.Google Scholar
Carroll, Susan J. (1994), Women as Candidates in American Politics, 2nd edn, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.Google Scholar
Chang, Eric C. C. (2005), ‘Electoral Incentives for Political Corruption under Open-List Proportional Representation’, Journal of Politics, 67 (3): 716–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chang, Eric C. C. and Golden, Miriam A. (2006), ‘Electoral Systems, District Magnitude and Corruption’, British Journal of Political Science, 37 (1): 115–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Choate, Judd (2003), Torn and Frayed: Congressional Norms and Party Switching in an Era of Reform, Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger Publishers.Google Scholar
Costantini, Edmond (1990), ‘Political Women and Political Ambition: Closing the Gender Gap’, American Journal of Political Science, 34 (3): 741–70.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W. (1990), ‘Centripetal and Centrifugal Incentives in Electoral Systems’, American Journal of Political Science, 34 (4): 903–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W. and McCubbins, Mathew D. (1993), Legislative Leviathan: Party Government in the House, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W. and Thies, Michael F. (1998), ‘The Cost of Intraparty Competition: The Single, Nontransferable Vote and Money Politics in Japan’, Comparative Political Studies, 31: 267–91.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W. and Thies, Michael F. (2000), ‘How Much Does Money Matter? Buying Votes in Japan, 1967–1990’, Comparative Political Studies, 33 (1): 37–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W. and Niou, Emerson (1994), ‘Seat Bonuses under the Single Nontransferable Vote System: Evidence from Japan and Taiwan’, Comparative Politics, 26 (2): 221–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W. and Rosenbluth, Frances McCall (1996), ‘Factional Competition for the Party Endorsement: The Case of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party’, British Journal of Political Science, 26: 259–97.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., Rosenbluth, Frances McCall, and Thies, Michael F. (1998), ‘Mobilization, Social Networks, and Turnout: Evidence from Japan’, World Politics, 50 (3): 447–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W., Rosenbluth, Frances McCall, and Thies, Michael F. (1999), ‘Electoral Reform and the Fate of Factions: The Case of Japan's Liberal Democratic Party’, British Journal of Political Science, 29 (1): 33–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, Gary W., Rosenbluth, Frances McCall, and Thies, Michael F. (2000), ‘Electoral Rules, Career Ambitions, and Party Structure: Comparing Factions in Japan's Upper and Lower Houses’, American Journal of Political Science, 44 (1): 115–22.Google Scholar
Desposato, Scott W. (1997), ‘Party Switching and Democratization in Brazil’, Paper prepared for Annual Meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Guadalajara, 17–20 April.Google Scholar
Desposato, Scott W. (2004), ‘The impact of federalism on national party cohesion in Brazil’, Legislative Studies Quarterly, 29 (2): 259–285.Google Scholar
Desposato, Scott W. (2006a), ‘The Impact of Electoral Rules on Legislative Parties: Lessons from the Brazilian Senate and Chamber of Deputies’, The Journal of Politics, 68 (4): 1018–30.Google Scholar
Desposato, Scott W. (2006b), ‘Parties for Rent? Ambition, Ideology, and Party Switching in Brazil's Chamber of Deputies’, American Journal of Political Science, 50 (1): 62–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Desposato, Scott W. and Scheiner, Ethan (2008), ‘Governmental Centralization and Party Affiliation: Legislator Strategies in Brazil and Japan’, American Political Science Review, 102 (4): 509–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Downs, Anthony (1957), An Economic Theory of Democracy, New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Feldman, Stanley (1984), ‘Economic Self-Interest and the Vote: Evidence and Meaning’, Political Behavior, 6 (3): 229–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fell, Dafydd (2014), ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go? Patterns of Party Switching in Multiparty Taiwan’, Journal of East Asian Studies, 14 (1): 31–52.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. (1978), ‘Economic Retrospective Voting in American National Elections: A Micro-Analysis’, American Journal of Political Science, 22 (2): 426–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. (1983), ‘Who is Held Responsible? Further Evidence on the Hibbing-Alford Thesis’, American Journal of Political Science, 27 (1): 158–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fukui, Haruhiro (1984), ‘The Liberal Democratic Party Revisited: Continuity and Change in the Party's Structure and Performance’, Journal of Japanese Studies, 10: 385–435.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fulton, Sarah A., Maestas, Cherie D., Maisel, L. Sandy, and Stone, Walter J. (2006), ‘The Sense of a Woman: Gender, Ambition, and the Decision to Run for Congress’, Political Research Quarterly, 59 (2): 235–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, William B. and Mershon, Carol (2005), ‘Party Switching in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, 1996–2001’, The Journal of Politics, 76 (2): 536–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heller, William B. and Mershon, Carol (2009), Political Parties and Legislative Party Switching, New York: Palgrave Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hibbing, John R. and Alford, John R. (1981), ‘The Electoral Impact of Economic Conditions: Who is Held Responsible?’, American Journal of Political Science, 25 (3): 423–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kamath, P. M. (1985), ‘Politics of Defection in India in the 1980s’, Asian Survey, 25 (10): 1039–54.Google Scholar
Katz, Richard S. (2001), ‘Reforming the Italian Electoral Law, 1993’ in Mixed-Member Electoral Systems: the Best of Both Worlds?, ed. Shugart, Matthew Soberg and Wattenberg, Martin P.. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Kato, Junko (1998), ‘When the Party Breaks Up: Exit and Voice among Japanese Legislators’, American Political Science Review, 92: 857–70.Google Scholar
Kato, Junko and Yamamoto, Kentaro (2009), ‘Competition for Power: Party Switching and Party System Change in Japan’, in Heller, William B. and Mershon, Carol (eds.), Political Parties and Legislative Party Switching, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 233–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kiewiet, Roderick D. and Rivers, Douglas (1984), ‘A Retrospective on Retrospective Voting’, Political Behavior, 6 (4): 369–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, Gary and Zeng, Langche (2001), ‘Logistic Regression in Rare Events Data’, Political Analysis, 9 (2): 137–63.Google Scholar
Kirkpatrick, Jeane (1976), The New Presidential Elite, New York: Russell Sage and Twentieth Century Fund.Google Scholar
Laver, Michael and Benoit, Kenneth (2003), American Journal of Political Science, 47 (2): 215–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Laver, Michael and Kato, Junko (2001), ‘Dynamic Approaches to Government Formation and the Generic Instability of Decisive Structures in Japan’, Electoral Studies, 20 (4): 509–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis-Beck, Michael S. (1988), ‘Economics and the American Voter: Past, Present, Future’, Political Behavior, 10 (1): 5–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lijphart, A. and Gibberd, R. W. (1977), ‘Thresholds and Payoffs in List Systems of Proportional Representation’, European Journal of Political Research, 5: 219–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Loosemore, J. and Hanby, V. J. (1971), ‘The Theoretical Limits of Maximum Distortion: Some Analytic Expressions for Electoral Systems’, British Journal of Political Science, 1 (4): 467–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lowless, Jennifer L. and Fox, Richard L. (2010), It Still Takes a Candidate: Why Women Don't Run for Office, New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott and Scully, Timothy R. (1995), Building Democratic Institutions: Party Systems in Latin America. California: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mainwaring, Scott (1998), ‘Party Systems in the Third Wave’, Journal of Democracy, 9 (3): 67–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Markus, Gregory B. (1988), ‘The Impact of Personal and National Economic Conditions on the Presidential Vote: A Pooled Cross-Sectional Analysis’, American Journal of Political Science, 32 (1): 137–54.Google Scholar
Mayhew, David R. (1974), Congress: The Electoral Connection, New Haven, CO: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Mershon, Carol and Heller, William B. (2003), ‘Party Switching and Political Careers in the Spanish Congress of Deputies, 1982–1996’, Paper prepared for Midwest Political Science Association.Google Scholar
Mershon, Carol and Shvetsova, Olga (2013), ‘The Microfoundations of Party System Stability in Legislatures’, Journal of Politics, 75 (4): 865–78.Google Scholar
Nemoto, Kuniaki, Krauss, Ellis and Pekkanen, Robert (2008), ‘Policy Dissension and Party Discipline: The July 2005 Vote on Postal Privatization in Japan’, British Journal of Political Science, 38 (3): 499–525.Google Scholar
Nokken, Timothy P (2000), ‘Dynamics of Congressional Loyalty: Party Defection and Roll Call Behavior, 1947–1997’, Legislative Studies Quarterly, 23 (3): 417–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O'Brien, Diana Z. and Shomer, Yael (2013), ‘A Cross-National Analysis of Party Switching’, Legislative Studies Quarterly, 38 (1): 111–41.Google Scholar
Powell, Bingham G. and Whitten, Guy D. (1993), ‘A Cross-National Analysis of Economic Voting: Taking Account of the Political Context’, American Journal of Political Science, 37 (2): 391–414.Google Scholar
Rae, D. (1971), The Political Consequences of Electoral Laws, 2nd edn, New Haven, CO: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Rae, D., Hanby, V., and Loosemore, J. (1971), ‘Thresholds of Representation and Thresholds of Exclusion: An Analytic Note on Electoral Systems’, Comparative Political Studies, 3: 479–88.Google Scholar
Ramseyer, J. Mark and Rosenbluth, Frances McCall (1997), Japan’s Political Marketplace, Cambridge, MA: 644 Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Reed, Steven R. (1990), ‘Structure and Behaviour: Extending Duverger's Law to the Japanese Case’, British Journal of Political Science, 20 (3): 335–356.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reed, Steven R. and Thies, Michael F. (2001), ‘The Causes of Electoral Reform in Japan’, in Shugart, Matthew Soberg and Wattenberg, Martin P. (eds.), Mixed-Member Electoral Systems: The Best of Both Worlds? Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sánchez de Dios, Manuel (1999), ‘Parliamentary Party Discipline in Spain’, in Bowler, Shaun, Farrell, David M., and Katz, Richard S. (eds.), Party Discipline and Parliamentary Government, Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar
Tomz, Michael, King, Gary, and Zeng, Langche (2003), ‘Relogit: Rare Events Logistic Regression’, Journal of Statistical Software, 8 (2).Google Scholar
White, Stephen, Rose, Richard, and McAllister, Ian (1997), How Russia Votes, Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.Google Scholar
Winckler, Edwin A. (1999), ‘The Electoral Economy of SNTV in Japan and Taiwan’, in Grofman, Bernard, Lee, Sung-chull, Winckler, Edwin A., and Woodall, Brian (eds.), Elections in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan under the Single Non-Transferable Vote, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, pp. 23–50.Google Scholar
Woodall, Brian (1999), ‘The Politics of Reform in Japan's Lower House Electoral System’, in Grofman, Bernard, Lee, Sung-chull, Winckler, Edwin A., and Woodall, Brian (eds.), Elections in Japan, Korea, and Taiwan under the Single Non-Transferable Vote, Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press, pp. 337–53.Google Scholar
Yoshinaka, Antoine (2003), ‘Congressional Party Switchers and Committee Assignments: Who Gets What, When, How?’, Paper prepared for delivery at the 2003 meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 30 May–1 June.Google Scholar
Zielinski, Jakub, Slomczynski, Kazimierz M., and Shabad, Goldie (2005), ‘Electoral Control in New Democracies: The Perverse Incentives of Fluid Party Systems’, World Politics, 57 (3): 365–95.Google Scholar