Local Politics and National Policy
Local Politics and National Policy

Author: Ken Victor Leonard Hijino

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2017-04-28

Total Pages: 183

ISBN-13: 1317265629

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This book is about why and how central and local governments clash over important national policy decisions. Its empirical focus is on the local politics of Japan which has significantly shaped, and been shaped by, larger developments in national politics. The book argues that since the 1990s, changes in the national political arena, fiscal and administrative decentralization, as well as broader socio-economic developments have led to a decoupling of once closely integrated national and local party systems in Japan. Such decoupling has led to a breakdown of symbiotic relations between the centre and regions. In its place are increasing strains between national and local governments leading to greater intra-party conflict, inter-governmental conflicts, and more chief executives with agendas and resources increasingly autonomous of the national ruling party. Although being a book primarily focused on the Japanese case, the study seeks to contribute to a broader understanding of how local partisans shape national policy-making. The book theorizes and investigates how the degree of state centralization, vertical integration for party organizations, and partisan congruence in different levels of government affect inter-governmental relations. Japan’s experience is compared with Germany, Canada, and the UK to explore sources of multi-level policy conflict. Chapter 1 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

The Policy-Making Process in Contemporary Japan
The Policy-Making Process in Contemporary Japan

Author: M. Nakano

Publisher: Springer

Published: 1996-11-12

Total Pages: 269

ISBN-13: 0230375510

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This book deals with the public policy-making process in contemporary Japan testifying a new dictum: 'The various phases of the policy process cause politics'. The analytical focus is threefold: encompassing the policy-making process on the national level; elections and the policy-making process; and the regional policy and decision-making. These analyses offer a number of original and comparative data on Japanese politics. This book also tries to interpret the basic pattern of Japanese politics, which contributes to a clear understanding of the dynamic aspects of the political process and political economy after the Second World War.

Policy Analysis in Japan
Policy Analysis in Japan

Author: Adachi, Yukio

Publisher: Policy Press

Published: 2018-03-01

Total Pages: 326

ISBN-13: 1447347412

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While studies of policy analysis in other countries have assessed their needs and integrated them into training programmes for professional policy analysts, Japanese studies have been very limited. Policy analysis in Japan brings together for the first time a detailed examination of the theory and practice of policy analysis systems in Japan, at different levels. As part of the successful International Library of Policy Analysis series edited by Iris Geva-May and Michael Howlett, the book provides expert analysis to closely examine to what extent the Japanese government has succeeded in providing key policy actors with evidence-informed policy options, thereby improving the likelihood of better policies being adopted and implemented. The book also assesses Japan’s future policy directions, allowing policy researchers and practitioners to draw a number of lessons from the Japanese experience. The book includes empirical case studies to aid teaching and further research, and will be a valuable resource for students and academics as well as policymakers. Features of the ILPA series include: • a country-specific systematic study of policy analysis systems by government and non-governmental actors • a history of the country’s policy analysis, empirical case studies and a comparative overview of alternative approaches • a key reference collection for research and teaching in comparative policy analysis and policy studies

Policymaking in Japan; Defining the Role of Politicians
Policymaking in Japan; Defining the Role of Politicians

Author: Nihon Kokusai Kōryū Sentā

Publisher:

Published: 2002-06

Total Pages: 164

ISBN-13:

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A major evolution in Japan's system of governance has been taking place in recent years as politicians have increasingly begun to participate in the policymaking process where bureaucrats used to play the predominant role. The six chapters in this volume are written by members of the Diet from the Liberal Democratic, Democratic, and New Komeito parties. These members of the new generation of politicians in Japan are concerned about designing a new architecture for policymaking.Relations between politicians and bureaucrats and how those relations should be restructured are discussed. Restructuring the policymaking process also involves questions of the relationships between the prime minister and the governing party organizations, the role of Diet committees, and the issue of staff support for politicians, parties, the Diet, and the prime minister. Each chapter explores these and other policymaking matters in the context of a specific policy issue, such as finance, information technology, public works, education, and corporate policy. Chapters provide important insights into the substantive issue at hand and the policy process relating to it.Contributors include Japanese House of Representatives members Nemoto Takumi, Furukawa Motohisa, Ito Tatsuya, Maehara Seiji, Hase Hiroshi, and Ueda Isamu.

Dilemmas of a Trading Nation
Dilemmas of a Trading Nation

Author: Mireya Solis

Publisher: Brookings Institution Press

Published: 2017-08-01

Total Pages: 176

ISBN-13: 0815729200

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The balancing of competing interests and goals will have momentous consequences for Japan—and the United States—in their quest for economic growth, social harmony, and international clout. Japan and the United States face difficult choices in charting their paths ahead as trading nations. Tokyo has long aimed for greater decisiveness, which would allow it to move away from a fragmented policymaking system favoring the status quo in order to enable meaningful internal reforms and acquire a larger voice in trade negotiations. And Washington confronts an uphill battle in rebuilding a fraying domestic consensus in favor of internationalism essential to sustain its leadership role as a champion of free trade. In Dilemmas of a Trading Nation, Mireya Solís describes how accomplishing these tasks will require the skillful navigation of vexing tradeoffs that emerge from pursuing desirable, but to some extent contradictory goals: economic competitiveness, social legitimacy, and political viability. Trade policy has catapulted front and center to the national conversations taking place in each country about their desired future direction—economic renewal, a relaunched social compact, and projected international influence. Dilemmas of a Trading Nation underscores the global consequences of these defining trade dilemmas for Japan and the United States: decisiveness, reform, internationalism. At stake is the ability of these leading economies to upgrade international economic rules and create incentives for emerging economies to converge toward these higher standards. At play is the reaffirmation of a rules-based international order that has been a source of postwar stability, the deepening of a bilateral alliance at the core of America's diplomacy in Asia, and the ability to reassure friends and rivals of the staying power of the United States. In the execution of trade policy today, we are witnessing an international leadership test dominated by domestic governance dilemmas.

Media and Politics in Japan
Media and Politics in Japan

Author: Susan Pharr

Publisher: University of Hawaii Press

Published: 1996-03-01

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 9780824817619

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Japan is one of the most media-saturated societies in the world. The circulations of its "big five" national newspapers dwarf those of any major American newspaper. Its public service broadcasting agency, NHK, is second only to the BBC in size. And it has a full range of commercial television stations, high-brow and low-brow magazines, and a large anti-mainstream media and mini-media. Japanese elites rate the mass media as the most influential group in Japanese society. But what role do they play in political life? Whose interests do the media serve? Are the media mainly servants of the state, or are they watchdogs on behalf of the public? And what effects do the media have on the political beliefs and behavior of ordinary Japanese people? These questions are the focus of this collection of essays by leading political scientists, sociologists, social psychologists, and journalists. Japan's unique kisha (press) club system, its powerful media business organizations, the uses of the media by Japan's wily bureaucrats, and the role of the media in everything from political scandals to shaping public opinion, are among the many subjects of this insightful and provocative book.

Dōwa Policy and Japanese Politics
Dōwa Policy and Japanese Politics

Author: Ian Neary

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2021-08-26

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 1000430677

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This book locates the development of Dōwa policy projects within their historical and political context, offering examples of human rights protection in a non-Western society. Charting Dōwa policy from its origins in the pre-war period to its revival after 1945 up to the turn of the 21st century, chapters in this study provide a social and historical review supplemented by detailed analyses of policy process and implementation at both national and local levels. No previous publication on the ‘Buraku Problem’ has focused on the direct impact of Dōwa policy in overcoming prejudice and economic inequalities. Topics covered range from left-wing Buraku Liberation League demands in the late 1950s, the Special Measures Law for Dōwa Policy Projects (SML) in the 1960s, and the evolution of a human rights based Dōwa policy into the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Through its evaluation of the relative successes and failures to improve local infrastructure and opportunities for marginal communities, this book invites comparative analysis with policies in other Asian and Western polities which seek to mitigate descent-based and racial discrimination. Dōwa Policy and Japanese Politics will prove a valuable resource for students and scholars of international relations, human rights, politics, and Japanese studies.

Consumer Politics in Postwar Japan
Consumer Politics in Postwar Japan

Author: Patricia L. Maclachlan

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 334

ISBN-13: 9780231123464

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This book examines Japan's postwar consumer protection movement, which, organized largely by housewives, led to the passage of basic consumer protection legislation in 1968. Macmillan points to the importance of activity at the local level, the role of minority parties, the limited utility of the courts, and the place of lawyers and academics in providing access to power.