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Domestic politics of Japan's foreign policy: a case study of the ratification of the non-proliferation treaty*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 October 2009

Joseph Frankel
Joseph Frankel
Affiliation:
Professor of Politics, University of Southampton
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Extract

Although our theorizing about the making of foreign policy is meant to be of general application, it is based predominantly upon Western, often only United States practices. The purpose of this paper is to look in some depth into a case study of foreign policy-making in Japan in order to ascertain to what extent the analytical categories evolved in the West apply and what peculiarities of the Japanese political system need to be considered. More specifically, I shall test the simple hypothesis that in all ‘democratic’ systems1 the substance of the domestic processes shows great similarities while their forms greatly differ.

Type
Research Article
Information
Review of International Studies , Volume 3 , Issue 3 , October 1977 , pp. 254 - 268
Copyright
Copyright © British International Studies Association 1977

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References

page 254 note 1. In this context, I mean systems in which governments are subject not only to formal but also to real domestic constraints in the conduct of their foreign policies.

page 255 note 1. Tsudi, Cf., , Kiyoaki, ‘Decision-making in Japanese Government: a Study of Ringisei’ in Ward, R. E. (ed.), Political Development in Modern Japan (Princeton, 1968)Google Scholar and Craig, A. M., ‘Functional and Dysfunctional Bureaucracy’ in Vogel, E. F. (ed.) Modern Japanese Organization and Decision-Making (California, 1975)Google Scholar.

page 256 note 1. I am grateful to Professor Tsudi for discussing the issues of ringi sei with me.

page 256 note 2. For a fuller analysis, see below, section 4.

page 257 note 1. Cf, . ‘Fukuda Regime as It Is’, Japan Quarterly, xxiv (1977), p. 135Google Scholar. See also Ishida, , Takeshi, , Japanese Society (1971), p. 33.Google Scholar

page 257 note 2. Miyazawa belonged to the ‘mainstream’ Ohira faction which, however, had been instrumental in bringing Miki to power and remained in support of him during the ratification process.

page 257 note 3. Allison, Graham T.: ‘Conceptual Models and the Cuban Missile Crisis’, American Political Science Review, ixiv (1969), pp. 689–718CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

page 257 note 4. In Japanese usage ‘cabinet’ and ‘government’ can be synonymous but sometimes ‘government’ is used more broadly, including both the cabinet ministers and the officials.

page 262 note 1. See discussion below, pp. 264–8

page 262 note 2. Tokyo Shimbun, quoted in Japan Times, 18 March, 1975, p. 12Google Scholar.

page 265 note 1. Within each division of the Gaimushō the main job of the top-ranking officials (the Director-General and his Deputies) seems to be to assist the government in the domestic political processes, wherever necessary.

page 265 note 2. In an admittedly acute crisis, when fighting for his political survival in the latter stages of the ratification process, the Prime Minister went so far as to invite small groups of newly elected M.P.s to private dinner parties and to buttonhole individuals in corridors and lobbies, soliciting their support.

page 267 note 1. It took some persuasion to convince the critics that international law does not permit qualifications to a ratification and that, therefore, they have to be embodied in a separate statement.