著者

塩沢 健一

出版者

日本政治学会

雑誌

年報政治学 (ISSN:05494192)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.60, no.2, pp.2_203-2_224, 2009

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In a "yes or no" type referendum, people are forced to choose "all or nothing" on a specific issue. However, voting for "yes" or "no" may not be the optimal behavior for those who have neutral attitude toward the issue. In this paper, I analyze the degree to which the choice set of "yes or no" is adequate for referendums and the degree to which referendums can work as a policy-making device for discovering the "will of the people." The data is based on a mail survey conducted in Iwakuni City of Yamaguchi Prefecture.   Although Iwakuni voters "disapproved" of transferring extra forces from an-other base to Iwakuni by an overwhelmingly large margin in the referendum, respondents were divided when I asked them a question that included a choice that considering the financial benefits brought about by presence of U.S. forces. The case of Iwakuni suggests that the "will of the people" cannot be settled with a single balloting and that using a referendum is not necessarily the most appropriate approach when an intermediate solution is available.