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The Policy Process and Social Policy in Japan

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 September 2013

Stephen J. Anderson
Stephen J. Anderson*
Affiliation:
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Extract

Is Japan enigmatic because it is unique? Problems of social and economic policy in contemporary Japan challenge myths about uniqueness. By focusing on comparable problems, this essay notes the limits of world views about Japanese uniqueness and the exceptionalism of countries.

An aim is to unbundle areas that illustrate the policy process and reflect on models of policymaking. In the diversity within Japan, policy-making in specific areas reflects on the approaches of corporatism, pluralism, and state-centered theorists.

Across policy areas, instructors will discover problems of Japan's industrial society that are nonetheless comparable to elsewhere. Throughout East Asia, scholars note the distinct social, ideological, and historical contexts that challenge past social theory. A leading Asian country can offer rich additions to a course on comparative politics and public policy. In Japan, one also can emphasize familiar features of industrial society, economy, and polity that test various approaches and models of policymaking. Using areas of labor, welfare, agriculture, and education as examples, instructors may pursue these and additional topics found from the bibliographies and readings.

Type
Research Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , March 1992 , pp. 36 - 43
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1992

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References

Annotated Bibliography

Calder, E. Kent. 1988. Crisis and Compensation: Public Policy and Political Stability in Japan. Princeton: Princeton University Press. This study addresses a range of policies and political processes in comparative perspective. Chapters present detailed considerations of political crisis in Japan, public spending patterns, determinants of policy change, and recent negotiations between Japan and the United States.Google Scholar
Inoguchi, Takashi and Okimoto, Daniel I., eds. 1988. The Political Economy of Japan: Volume 2, The Changing International Context. Stanford: Stanford University. While largely concerned with international relations, a few essays in the collection deal with domestic policymaking. Peter Katzenstein compares Japan with Switzerland, and addresses resemblances of democratic corporatism in a Japanese political economy that seeks market domination, looms large in the world order, and remains less inclusive of labor.Google Scholar
Krauss, Ellis and Ishida, Takeshi, eds. 1989. Democracy in Japan. Pittsburgh: Pittsburgh University. Shorter essays address the question of how Japan approaches the ideals of democracy. Particularly good for an introductory course, these essays range across economic and social problems of corporations, protest, and unions (by Christina Turner).Google Scholar
Kume, Ikuo. 1988. “Changing Relations among the Government, Labor, and Business in Japan after the Oil Crisis.” International Organization 42(4): 659–88. This article is especially helpful on the changing affects of labor on policymaking after 1973.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pempel, T. J. 1982. Policy and Politics in Japan. Philadelphia: Temple University. This survey of public policy areas analyzes the practice of “creative conservatism” in order to explain policy outcomes and political stability in Japan.Google Scholar
Pempel, T. J. 1987. “The Unbundling of ‘Japan, Inc.’: The Changing Dynamics of Japanese Policy Formation.” Journal of Japanese Studies. 13(2): 271–306. In a larger volume on the trade crisis, this influential article emphasizes changes in public policy that have occurred as economic openness affects the policy process in Japan.Google Scholar
Reich, Michael, Endo, Yasuo, and Timmer, C. Peter. 1986. “Agriculture.” In America Versus Japan, ed. McGraw, Thomas. Cambridge: Harvard Business School. In a group of essays that compare various sectors, the review of agriculture focuses on policy history and trade issues.Google Scholar
Vogel, Steven K. 1989. Japanese High Technology, Politics, and Power. Berkeley: BRIE. The short book asks about implications of principles of reliability to military uses. The first sections introduce Japan's high technology policy and compare technology goals.Google Scholar
Weinstein, Martin E. 1989. The Human Face of Japan's Leadership. New York: Praeger. This collection of twelve interviews with bureaucrats, politicians, and business leaders provides in-depth stories about key figures. As a supplement, the interviews provide human dimensions to conceptual debates.Google Scholar
Yamamura, Kozo and Yasuba, Yasukichi. 1987. The Political Economy of Japan: Volume 1, The Domestic Transformation. Stanford: Stanford University. A set of detailed studies on domestic Japanese political economy. Though economics is emphasized, this volume contains cross-disciplinary studies by Murakami, Rohlen and Patrick, Okimoto and Saxonhouse, Krauss and Muramatsu mentioned above.Google Scholar