Lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of SMD electoral systems: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Germany

This study addresses the question of why so many of the world’s legislators are lawyers or law graduates. Drawing from previous studies on lawyer-legislators and electoral systems, it develops the argument that ‘first-pass-the-post’ single-member district electoral systems presume a principal-agent...

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Main Author: JOSHI, Devin K.
Format: text
Language:English
Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2019
Subjects:
law
Online Access:https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3085
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4342/viewcontent/JJPS_Lawyers_in_Parliaments__2019_.pdf
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spelling sg-smu-ink.soss_research-43422021-05-14T06:23:46Z Lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of SMD electoral systems: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Germany JOSHI, Devin K. This study addresses the question of why so many of the world’s legislators are lawyers or law graduates. Drawing from previous studies on lawyer-legislators and electoral systems, it develops the argument that ‘first-pass-the-post’ single-member district electoral systems presume a principal-agent logic of representation and are therefore conducive to political parties selecting representatives with either occupational experience or educational training in the field of law. By contrast, proportional representation (PR) elections presume a microcosm model of representation incentivizing parties to select candidates representing diverse demographic and occupational backgrounds. This conjecture is tested by examining legislator backgrounds in three large parliaments with mixed electoral systems: Germany, Japan, and South Korea. As expected, single-member plurality elections are linked to a greater share of lawyers and law graduates in parliaments compared to those elected via PR even after controlling for several alternative explanations. 2019-11-01T07:00:00Z text application/pdf https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3085 info:doi/10.1017/S1468109919000112 https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4342/viewcontent/JJPS_Lawyers_in_Parliaments__2019_.pdf http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Research Collection School of Social Sciences eng Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University Electoral systems Germany Japan law lawyers parliaments political selection proportional representation single-member districts South Korea Political Science
institution Singapore Management University
building SMU Libraries
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider SMU Libraries
collection InK@SMU
language English
topic Electoral systems
Germany
Japan
law
lawyers
parliaments
political selection
proportional representation
single-member districts
South Korea
Political Science
spellingShingle Electoral systems
Germany
Japan
law
lawyers
parliaments
political selection
proportional representation
single-member districts
South Korea
Political Science
JOSHI, Devin K.
Lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of SMD electoral systems: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Germany
description This study addresses the question of why so many of the world’s legislators are lawyers or law graduates. Drawing from previous studies on lawyer-legislators and electoral systems, it develops the argument that ‘first-pass-the-post’ single-member district electoral systems presume a principal-agent logic of representation and are therefore conducive to political parties selecting representatives with either occupational experience or educational training in the field of law. By contrast, proportional representation (PR) elections presume a microcosm model of representation incentivizing parties to select candidates representing diverse demographic and occupational backgrounds. This conjecture is tested by examining legislator backgrounds in three large parliaments with mixed electoral systems: Germany, Japan, and South Korea. As expected, single-member plurality elections are linked to a greater share of lawyers and law graduates in parliaments compared to those elected via PR even after controlling for several alternative explanations.
format text
author JOSHI, Devin K.
author_facet JOSHI, Devin K.
author_sort JOSHI, Devin K.
title Lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of SMD electoral systems: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Germany
title_short Lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of SMD electoral systems: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Germany
title_full Lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of SMD electoral systems: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Germany
title_fullStr Lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of SMD electoral systems: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Germany
title_full_unstemmed Lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of SMD electoral systems: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Germany
title_sort lawyers and law graduates in parliaments as a consequence of smd electoral systems: comparing japan, south korea, and germany
publisher Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University
publishDate 2019
url https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/3085
https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/4342/viewcontent/JJPS_Lawyers_in_Parliaments__2019_.pdf
_version_ 1770575010414460928