October 15, 2018/ 12:00 PM - 1:30 PM
Bunche Hall Room 4357 Los Angeles
Comparative Politics Workshop Dynasties and DemocracyWorkshop with Professor Daniel Smith, Harvard University
Political dynasties exist in all democracies, but have been conspicuously prevalent in Japan, where over a third of legislators and two-thirds of cabinet ministers come from families with a history in parliament. In his new book, Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan, Daniel M. Smith introduces a comparative theory to explain the persistence of dynastic politics in democracies like Japan, and explores the implications of this theory for candidate selection, election, and cabinet promotion, as well as the impact of dynasties on the quality of representation.
About the Speaker:
Daniel M. Smith is an Associate Professor of Comparative Politics in the Department of Government and Faculty Associate of the Reischauer Institute of Japanese studies at Harvard University. His research focuses on the impact of political institutions, especially electoral systems and candidate selection methods, on aspects of democratic representation and behavior. He is the author of Dynasties and Democracy: The Inherited Incumbency Advantage in Japan (2018) and co-editor of Japan Decides 2017: The Japanese General Election (2018). His research has also appeared in several journals, including The American Political Science Review, Journal of Politics, Political Analysis, and Comparative Political Studies, and in various edited volumes. He received his Ph.D. and MA in political science from UCSD, and BA in Political Science and Italian from UCLA. Go Bruins!
Cosponsored by The UCLA Department of Political Science
Download file: 10.15.18-SMITH-FLYER-2b-tcp.pdf