The Political Distance between Citizens and Elites
The Political Distance between Citizens and Elites
This chapter analyzes individual responses to open-ended questions posed to a national sample of voters in 2000, to identify dominant trends in public opinion that remain as true now as then. Citizens across Japan use practices in their everyday lives to construct a definition of democracy that involves questioning the status quo and tradition, listening to diverse perspectives, encouraging participation and innovation, deliberating alternatives, and exposing the processes of decision-making. Japanese voters complain that elite political practices are far removed from their understanding of what democracy is and how it should be practiced. They criticize closed decision-making processes and the inability of politicians to offer concrete, detailed policy alternatives to the problems that concern voters most. Their changing attitudes about democracy and its practice provide a context for understanding observed patterns of participation in local politics and their implications for national political change.
Keywords: democracy, Japanese voters, elite political practices, national political change, political participation
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