CJS Noon Lecture Series: Visible Partner; Invisible Power: The Role of the Spouse in Japanese Electoral Politics

Dyron Dabney is a member of the Department of Political Science at Albion College, Albion, Michigan. His research and teaching interests include campaigns and elections, political parties, political participation and elite politics. While specializing in Japanese politics, Dabney’s research and teaching interests invite comparative analyses of Japanese and American politics, culture and society.  Dabney’s present-day research is motivated and informed by interdisciplinary studies that bring into focus gendered differences in political participation and behavior.  His current research projects include an examination of spousal participation effects on election campaign outcomes in Japan and the U.S., and gender and election campaign corruption in Japan and the U.S.

Dabney holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Politics from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.  He is a Network for the Future Cohort II Scholar of The Maureen and Mike Mansfield Foundation, an Advisory committee member of Japan Study, and a former Board of Directors member of ASIANetwork.  Dabney was the 2011-2012 Resident Director for Japan Study, a study abroad program for the Great Lakes Colleges Association and the Associate Colleges of the Midwest at SILS, Waseda Univeristy.

Abstract: This study exams the roles and contributions of the spouse in Japanese election campaigns.  The research reveals the complex participatory “utility” of the spouse based on geographic region, generation/age, sex, political party membership, voter expectations, tenure in office and the level of elected office.  Ultimately, the study illustrates that there are stages and levels of participation by every spouse in electoral politics.  Moreover, the study credits the spouse as a valuable political asset in the election campaigns, coined the “spousal effect,” in a manner similar to other members of an election campaign team.