Removing Boundaries, Losing Connections: Electoral Consequences of Local Government Reform in Japan

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS ARE THE SMALLEST AND MOST BASIC UNIT OF representative democracy (Dahl and Tufte 1973, 13). Politicians serving in these governments—mayors and members of municipal assemblies—perform important functions in the policy process by meeting residents on a regular basis, discussing policy matters with them, and making policy decisions that affect the communities in which they reside. These municipal political elites not only are political actors in their own narrowly defined geographic jurisdictions, but they also constitute the cornerstones of national party organizations since they are the hubs of the community-based social and political network (Curtis 1992; Fenno 1978). More specifically, politicians seeking elective office at the national level rely on the