Advice and consent
Subtitle: the politics of consultation in Japan
By: Frank J. Schwartz.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Cambridge, UK; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 327
Subjects: Pressure groups -- Japan.; Political planning -- Japan.; Business and politics -- Japan.; Industrial policy -- Japan.
Other titles: Advice & consent
Description: Japan's political system has been transformed gradually by a pluralizing trend since the postwar era. That is not to say, however, that many diverse, fluctuating groups now compete equally in Japan's political marketplace. Instead, small sets of well-organized, narrowly focused interest groups typically join specific bureaucratic agencies, groups of politicians, and individual experts to dominate policymaking in relatively self-contained issue areas. Advice and Consent offers a rare, penetrating examination of the critical role of interest-group politics in Japan. Frank Schwartz reviews the functions and operations of Japan's council system, and presents three case studies of specific governmental decisions involving the use of shingikai in the late 1980s. He explores how political conflicts of interest among economic groups in Japan are resolved with the help of consultative councils, makes broader observations about the political economies of Japan, and by extension, other advanced industrial economies.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 289-311) and index.