Do boundary consolidations alter the relationship between politicians and voters? The case of municipal mergers in Japan

Kyohei Yamada and Kiichiro Arai

Local Government Studies, 2021, vol. 47, issue 4, 519-545

Abstract: This paper examines whether boundary changes lead to changes in the relationship between voters and politicians. We focus on the wave of municipal mergers in Japan that took place in the 2000s in order to examine this question. Municipalities with small population size, once they merge with their larger neighbours, would have a small number of voters relative to the size of the electorate in the post-merger municipalities. Therefore, municipal politicians in the post-merger municipalities do not have strong electoral incentives to receive support from geographic areas corresponding with pre-merger municipalities of small population size. Using a survey of voters in 89 locations corresponding with pre-merger municipalities, we demonstrate that voters who live in small municipalities that experienced mergers interact with politicians less frequently and have less favourable impressions of politicians than before the mergers. These patterns are not observed in municipalities that did not experience mergers.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1080/03003930.2020.1761335

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