Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-r5zm4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T13:19:57.334Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Policy Ideas and Change in Japanese Bureaucratic Politics: The Ministry of Finance in International Monetary Crisis, 1969–1971

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Tsuyoshi Kawasaki
Tsuyoshi Kawasaki
Affiliation:
Institute of International Relations, University of British Columbia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Under what conditions do dominant policy ideas change in Japanese bureaucratic organizations? The answer is developed in reference to a rare empirical case in which critical information has been released about intra-bureaucracy politics, the Japanese Ministry of Finance during the 1969–1971 international monetary crisis. The paper contends, first, that the crisis did not automatically lead to a change of a dominant policy idea prevalent in the Ministry. A policy change occurred only after tactful leadership was exercised by the highest Ministry official. Second, dynamics of paralysis and change were strongly shaped by structures and norms characteristic of Japanese organizations. At a more general level, the case study shows that the exercise of policy-changing leadership vis-á-vis bureaucracies depends on two intra- governmental structure variables: institutional arrangements within and surrounding bureaucracies; and the level of information control exercised by bureaucracies.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 111 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aberbach, J., Putnam, R., and Rockman, B. (1981) Bureaucrats and Politicians in Western Democracies. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ando, H. (1987) Sekinin to Genkai: Akaji Zaisei no Kiseki, Vol. 1. Tokyo: Kin'yu Zaisei Jijo Kenkyukai.Google Scholar
Angel, R. (1988) Explaining policy failure: Japan and the international economy, 1969–1971, Journal of Public Policy, 8, 2, 175–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Angel, R. (1991) Explaining Economic Policy Failure: Japan in the 1969–1971 International Monetary Crisis. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Bacchus, W. (1974) Foreign Policy and the Bureaucratic Process: The State Department's Country Director System. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bunce, Valerie (1981) Do New Leaders Make a Difference? Executive Succession and Public Policy under Capitalism and Socialism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brunk, G., and Minehart, T. (1984) How important is elite turnover to policy change? American Journal of Political Science, 28, 3, 559–69.Google Scholar
Calder, K. (1988) Japanese foreign economic policy formation: explaining the reactive state, World Politics, 60, 4, 517–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calder, K. (1989) International Pressure and Domestic Policy Response: Japanese Informatics Policy in the 1980s. Center of International Studies Research Monograph, No. 51, Princeton University.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. (1977) Contemporary Japanese Budget Politics. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. (1989) Bureaucratic primacy: Japanese policy communities in an American perspective, Governance, 2, 1, 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christoph, J. (1975) High civil servants and the politics of consensualism in Great Britain. In Dogan, M. (ed.), The Mandarins of Western Europe: The Political Role of Top Civil Servants. Beverly Hills: Sage.Google Scholar
Destler, I., Fukui, H., and Sato, H. (1979) The Textile Wrangle: Conflict in Japanese-American Relations, 1969–1971. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Destler, I. and Henning, C. R. (1989) Dollar Politics: Exchange Rate Policymaking in the United States. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Dexter, L. (1990) Intra-agency politics: conflict and contravention in administrative entities, Journal of Theoretical Politics, 2, 2, 151–72.Google Scholar
Dobson, W. (1991) Economic Policy Coordination: Requiem or Prologue?. Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Funabashi, Y. (1987) Nichibei Keizai Masatsu: Sono Butaiura. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Funabashi, Y. (1989) Managing the Dollar: From the Plaza to the Louvre. 2nd ed.Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics.Google Scholar
Goldstein, J. (1989) The impact of ideas on trade policy: the origins of U.S. agricultural and manufacturing policies, International Organization, 43, 1, 31–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gowa, J. (1983) Closing the Gold Window: Domestic Politics and the End of Bretton Woods. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Greenwood, R. (1984) Incremental budgeting: antecedents of change, Journal of Public Policy, 4, 4, 277–306.Google Scholar
Haas, P. (1992) Introduction: epistemic communities and international policy coordination, International Organization, 46, 1, 1–36.Google Scholar
Halperin, M. (1974). Bureaucratic Politics and Foreign Policy. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Ham, A. (1981) Treasury Rules: Recurrent Themes in British Economic Policy. London: Quartet Books.Google Scholar
Hayashi, T. (1974) ‘Arufa (yen kiriage) sagyo’ shimatsuki, 1–2, Kin'yu Zaisei Jijo, June 24, 14–17 and July 1, 14–17.Google Scholar
Hayashi, T. (1977a) ‘Arufa sagyo’ no zasetsu kara furoto made, 1, Kin'yu Zaisei Jijo, January 31, 34–39.Google Scholar
Hayashi, T. (1977b) ‘Arufa sagyo’ no zasetsu kara furoto made, 2: maboroshi no daijin seimei, Kin'yu Zaisei Jijo, February 7, 36–41.Google Scholar
Hayashi, T. (1977c) ‘Arufa sagyo’ no zasetsu kara furoto made, 3: hokaisuru teibo, Kin'yu Zaisei Jijo, February 14, 30–35.Google Scholar
Howson, S. (1975) Domestic Monetary Management in Britain 1919–1938. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kuribayashi, Y. (1986) Okurasho Shukeikyoku. Tokyo: Kodansha.Google Scholar
Maruyama, M. (1956) Gendai Seiji no Shiso to Kodo, Vol. 1. Tokyo: Miraisha.Google Scholar
Moggridge, D. (1972) British Monetary Policy 1924–1931: The Norman Conquest of $4.86. London: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Nakane, C. (1967) Tateshakai no Ningen Kankei. Tokyo: Kodansha.Google Scholar
Nakane, C. (1970) Japanese Society. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Nakane, C. (1978) Tateshakai no Rikigaku. Tokyo: Kodansha.Google Scholar
Odell, J. (1982) U.S. International Monetary Policy: Markets, Power, and Ideas as Sources of Change. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Okimoto, D. (1987) Political inclusivity: the domestic structure of trade. In Inoguchi, T. and Okimoto, D. (eds), The Political Economy of Japan, Vol. 2: The Changing International Context. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Putnam, R., and Bayne, N. (1987) Hanging Together: Cooperation and Conflict in the Seven-Power Summits. Revised and enlarged ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Putnam, R., and Henning, C. (1989) The Bonn summit of 1978: a case study in coordination. In Cooper, R. et al. , Can Nations Agree? Issues in International Economic Cooperation. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution.Google Scholar
Sagami, T. (1982a) Sengo keizaishi saidai ibento no hiwa, 1: tenno heika to yen no kiriage, Toyo Keizai, October 16, 54–65.Google Scholar
Sagami, T. (1982b) Sengo keizaishi saidai ibento no hiwa, 2: yen kiriage taisaku no himitsu shougi, Toyo Keizai, November 13, 86–97.Google Scholar
Sagami, T. (1982c) Sengo keizaishi saidai ibento no hiwa, 3: furoto iko to denomi shimatsuki, Toyo Keizai, December 25, 82–96.Google Scholar
Shiota, U. (1983). Kasumigaseki ga Furueta Hi: Tsuka Senso no 12-nichi-kan. Tokyo: Simul Shuppankai.Google Scholar
Tobe, R. et al. (1984) Shippai no Honshitsu: Nihongun no Soshikironteki Kenkyu. Tokyo: Daiamondosha.Google Scholar
Volcker, P. and Gyohten, T. (1992) Changing Fortunes: The World's Money and the Threat to American Leadership. New York: Times Books.Google Scholar
Yamaguchi, J. (1987) Okura Kanryo Shihai no Shuen. Tokyo: Iwanami Shoten.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, S. (1984a) Nemawashi no Shiso. Tokyo: Gakushu Kenkyusha.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, S. (1984b) Nihongaku Nyumon. Tokyo: Gakushu Kenkyusha.Google Scholar
Yamamoto, S. (1985) Nihonkyo no Shakaigaku. Tokyo: Gakushu Kenkyusha.Google Scholar
Yanagida, K. (1983) Nihon wa Moeteiruka. Tokyo: Kodansha.Google Scholar
Yoshizaki, J. (1971) Yen kiriage no sutaffu to kyasuto: okurajimu pesu no ‘kettei’, Toyo Keizai, September 6, 22–25.Google Scholar