The third stage of the project discussed on the Political Parties and Legislative Organization in Japan page broadens the scope of the research to incorporate comparisons with legislatures and parties in other states. This began when I was awarded an Abe Fellowship (2005-2006) to pursue comparisons of Japan with Italy and New Zealand. Now, along with Matthew Søberg Shugart and Ellis Krauss (both UCSD), I am currently in the early stages of an ambitious comparative project funded by the National Science Foundation.

Ellis Krauss, Matt Shugart, and Robert Pekkanen

 T   The project is entitled "Electoral Systems and Party Personnel: The Consequences of Reform and Non-Reform" and is funded for three years (2008-2011) by the National Science Foundation through its Political Science Program. The generous funding of well over $500,000 allows us conduct a study that we hope will make important theoretical and empirical contributions. The Principal Investigators (PIs) are Ellis Krauss, Robert Pekkanen and Matthew Shugart. Our aim is to examine how electoral systems affect what we call "party personnel strategies" (encompassing both party nomination and ranking strategies as well as party and legislative organization). To do this, we employ analysis of eight countries--four of which experienced electoral system change (the other four are control or "steady-state" cases for us): Bolivia, Germany, Portugal, Japan, New Zealand, Ukraine, Lithuania and the United Kingdom. Because of the vast scope of the project, a number of excellent collaborators will play a vital role in the project. 

Electoral-system types and country cases

SSD= Single Seat District. PR= Proportional Representation. MMP= Mixed Member Proportional. MMM= Mixed Member Majoritarian. SNTV= Single Non-Transferable Vote.

ロバート・ペッカネン