農産物貿易自由化をめぐる政策意思決定システムの変遷 : 自民党政権下の変化に注目して

抄録

The "55-year system" (55-nen taisei) under the LDP-led government contributed to the institutionalization of policy making in Japan after 1955. In this regard, the prevalence of a strong tripartite relationship between the LDP agricultural politicians (Norin-Zoku), the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) and the Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (JA) in policy-making protected the agricultural sector in Japan. However, the premiership of Junichiro Koizumi from 2001 to 2006 saw the emergence of a top-down approach in policy formulation in Japan. Analyzing recent policy initiatives in the agricultural sector, I found that the top-down approach in policy-making under the Koizumi leadership contributed to the successful removal of trade barriers on some agricultural products in FTA negotiations. However, changes in leadership style and in the policy-making process were insufficient to fully liberalize Japan's highly sensitive agricultural sector, especially with respect to the imports of rice due to strong opposition from the LDP agricultural politicians. In this paper, I examine how the change from the "55-year system" to Koizumi's top-down management style has influenced the pace of agricultural liberalization in Japan and why, despite the new policy-making approach, a complete liberalization of sensitive agricultural products, especially rice, did not take place. In particular, I examine how each actor pursued the protection of sensitive agricultural products.