Farm Lobby's Resistance to Trade Liberalization and Its Influence in Korea and Japan: From the Perspective of Corporatism

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17H07159
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Meiji University
• Principal Investigator: Nawakura Akio 明治大学, 政治経済学部, 助教 (60806587)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-08-25 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 農政 / 利益団体政治 / 社会運動 / 日韓比較

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Both farmers' associations in Korea and Japan have resisted to trade liberalization, which can damage their agricultural environment. Those in Korea, on the one hand, have employed the methods of social movement in resisting to free trade. Their activities to ally with other socio-economic groups such as trade unions mobilized public opinion and pressured the government to increase agricultural subsidy. In the Japanese case, on the other, the farmers employed traditional methods of lobbying on the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and gained government subsidy.
The result of the analysis above indicates that both the farmers' associations in Korea and Japan gained similar political achievement in resisting to free trade in spite of their different style of political activities.

Free Research Field

政治過程論、比較政治学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

本研究の遂行は、利益団体である農業者団体が、その政治的目標を達成する過程で世論を動員しうること、そしてその世論の動員が、時として政治的に強い影響力を持つことを明らかにした。本研究の分析結果は、特に韓国政治研究においては、従来別個の枠組みとして論じられがちであった社会運動と利益団体政治が、密接に結び付いたものであることを実証したものである。