Japan's Agricultural Policy Regime [Hardcover]

Written by the worlds leading expert in the field, this book examines the evolution of Japanese agricultural policy in the post-war period, focusing particularly from the 1970s onwards when both domestic and external pressures for reform began to intensify.

The author explains how the MAFF has safeguarded their institutional capacity to intervene by accommodating both public interest in agricultural policy reform alongside the interests of government in maintaining agricultural support and protection. The book provides a major reinterpretation of agricultural policy, examining how the MAFFs role as an intervention maximiser has been redefined in the face of continued bureaucratic involvement. Making available in English for the first time Japanese policy changes in the post-war period, the book will appeal to political economy specialists and political scientists, and those with an interest in Japanese politics and bureaucratic institutions.

1 Introduction  Bureaucratic Dependencies and Strategies of Intervention-Maximising  Maximising MAFF Intervention in the Process of Agricultural Policy Reform  2 The Agricultural Policy Regime in Historical Perspective  Maximising Ministry Intervention within Constraints  Maximising Ministry Intervention in Historical Perspective  The Agricultural Basic Law  Incremental Liberalisation of Food Control  Agricultural and Rural Public Works  Conclusion  3 Agricultural Policies From the Late 1970s to the Late 1980s  Antipathetic Trends in the Agricultural Policy Environment  Fiscal Pressures on the Food Control System  Appreciation of the Yen  The Maekawa and Other Reports  Pressures for Agricultural Trade Liberalisation  The MAFFl8