| Budget Amount *help |
¥1,100,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,100,000)
Fiscal Year 2004: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000)
Fiscal Year 2003: ¥600,000 (Direct Cost: ¥600,000)
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| Research Abstract |
During 1950s in Japan, there was a similar situation to the United Kingdom such as a single umbrella agricultural interest group, well-integrated ministry of agriculture and consensus to protect and high support to agriculture sector and formers among not only agricultural interests but also Ministry of Finance, Big Businesses, Trade Unions and all political parties.
In the similar environment surrounding agriculture policy, Japanese agrarian interests and the Ministry of Agriculture was successful to form a closed cohesive policy community, but they were unsuccessful to enjoy exclusive policy-making power against the financial sector, business sector and also political parties different to the UK. In the end of 1950s, explicit pressure politics to mobilise massive members of Agricultural Co-operatives and members of Diet had begun in order to get more expenditure for supporting agricultural sector and farmers. The reason why the difference between Japan and UK had happened was far bigg
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er agricultural population in Japan.
The pressure politics by the interest group gradually eludes the policy community, because agricultural interests demanded too much beyond the ministry's expectation and introduced intervention of LDP politicians. Then Ministry of Agriculture tried to introduce new policy to get back the initiative of agricultural policy-making. The bureaucrats of the Ministry leaded to draft the Agricultural Fundamental Act in 1961 against the elusion of the ministry's policy-making power.
In 1970s and 1980s, agricultural policies were transformed from the policies supporting for the agriculture as a sector of an industry to the policies delivering the employment for rural area through public construction works concerning agriculture related infrastructure. Regional pressure and pork-barrel politics was the most important features of the politics of agriculture.
Under the pressure of globalisation and liberalised trade since 1990s, the agricultural policy community, consisting of the ministry, Agricultural Co-operative and members of LDP politicians who are so-called agricultural tribes, has reorganised cohesively. The policy community was successful to introduce the new Fundamental Act of Food, Village and Agriculture in 1999 and to redefine the aim of agricultural support as a sustainability and safer food. Less
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