Policy-making Process for Global Environmental Problems; a Comparative Analysis between Japan and the United States

Abstract

This is a comparative analysis between the policy-making processes of Japan and the U.S. concerned with the Vienna Convention for the Protection of the Ozone Layer and the Framework Convention on Climate Change. The author introduces six policy-making models, in which policy makings are hypothesized to be affected by benefit, cost, procedure, domestic politics, hegemony, and learning process respectively. The models are evaluated by those who were involved in either of the actual policy-making processes. The result shows that the policy makings of the two nations are explained by different models. Japan's policy makings are explained by the domestic politics and the benefit that are caused by accepting the convention in ozone depletion problem, while in global warming problem, it was the pursuit for hegemony and the domestic politics that played important roles. The U.S.'s policy makings at both issues were influenced most by the benefit and the cost caused by signing the convention.