US Study Group, FY2009 Research Overview Report No. 1
June 29, 2009, Large Conference Room, Japan Institute of International Affairs

Study groups focusing on the US have been one of the longest running features of theJapan Institute of International Affairs (JIIA). As far back as April 1963 a study group wasestablished by the late Saito Makoto and other key figures to examine US foreign policy
decisions and the Congress, a research project that continued until April of the next year.
The results of that study group were published by JIIA in 1965 as “America’s Foreign Policy
Decisions and Congress.”

In May 1983, Hosoya Chihiro formed a Reagan foreign policy study group in JIIA thatincluded Aruga Tadashi and Igarashi Takeshi.

Its discussions and exchanges of opinions

culminated in the publication of “American Diplomacy” (1986, JIIA).

Following in the above tradition of American political research, a two-year research projecton the composition of America’s political infrastructure was begun in FY2008.

During thesecond year, the first FY2009 meeting of this US study group was held at JIIA on June 29,2009.

Below are an overview of this project and a description of its significance.

[Research overview]
The aim of this project is to examine the political infrastructure that structurally supports
American politics.

Distinct from the political actors that participate in direct politicalprocesses as typified by political parties and lobby groups, political infrastructure refers to
the organizations and groups that seek to influence political trends utilizing a variety ofmeans in and around the core of the power game.

While research on political infrastructure tends to get overlooked in favor of situational
analysis with a short-term scope, the dynamics of the emergence of the conservative
movement from the 1970s onward, for example, cannot be understood absent the role
played by political infrastructure.

This is because the conservative movement since the1970s has freely made use of think tanks, foundations, media monitoring groups, education
monitoring groups, human resources development organizations, etc., and achieved its
remarkable rise by skillful combinations of these. Even the Democratic Party has referredto the Republican Party model in pursuing similar attempts.

Thus it goes without saying that deeper research on political infrastructure is needed toascertain future trends in American politics.

As far as can be determined, however, there isno serious analysis being conducted in this field in Japan, and such research is rare in theUS as well.

[Research objectives and findings thus far]
The purpose of this project is to conduct research on the mechanisms comprising thepolitical infrastructure and on the actual means by which the foundations for long-term
structural change are formed, and to establish a new perspective for observing US politics infuture.

This project has already compiled an interim report of its findings for the first year. It
ultimately hopes to carry out further research on the basis of the interim report and publish
the results as Volume 9 of JIIA’s Modern America series.

It should be added that this project has received a research grant from the Suntory
Foundation.

[Study group members]
As mentioned above, this project does not entail conventional research focused on
individual political groups and think tanks but rather theoretical and empirical analysis on themechanisms by which groups and organizations link up with other groups to form greater
political dynamics.

This project has assembled researchers engaged in front-line researchin their respective fields, and placed its main focus on connecting the “dots” of existing
research with “lines” and releasing the research findings as “planes.”

The cooperation ofspecialists in varying areas who share an interest in the same issues is essential. The
members of this research project are listed below.

Project leader:
KUBO Fumiaki

Professor, University of Tokyo; Visiting Research Fellow, JIIA

Members:
ADACHI Masahiko

Senior Analyst, Sumitomo Shoji Research Institute, Inc.

UEKI (KAWAKATSU) Chiaki

Professor, Waseda University

OKAYAMA Yu

Associate Professor, Keio Gijuku University

TAKAHATA Akio

Editorial Committee Member and Editorialist, The Sankei
ShimbunTATSUMI Yuki

Research Fellow, Henry Stimson Center

HIKOTANI Takako

Associate Professor, National Defense Academy of Japan

MAEJIMA Kazuhiro

Associate Professor, Bunkyo University

MATSUOKA Yasushi

Professor, Prefectural University of Kumamoto

MIYATA Tomoyuki

Researcher at the Japanese Embassy to the US

WATABE Tsuneo

Senior Research Fellow, Tokyo Foundation

Members/administrative secretaries
NAKAYAMA Toshihiro

Assistant Professor, Tsuda College; Visiting Research Fellow,JIIA

NISHIKAWA Ken

Research Fellow, JIIA