Given former Prime Minister Koizumis reformist zeal, agriculture might have been expected to be high on his list of targets for so-called structural reform. However, an investigation of the record of his administration on agricultural policy reveals only modest achievements in terms of policy...

Economic policy change within states is increasingly being driven by external political and economic pressures consequent upon the internationalisation of markets, the growth of economic interdependence and the increasing effectiveness of multilateral regimes as sponsors of trade liberalisation....

Given former Prime Minister Koizumi s reformist zeal, agriculture might have been expected to be high on his list of targets for so-called structural reform . However, an investigation of the record of his administration on agricultural policy reveals only modest achievements in terms of policy...

‘Japan Inc.’ is manifested in the agricultural sector as a classic subgovernment consisting of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, the Liberal Democratic Party, and the agricultural cooperative organisation (Nokyo). This three-way coalition of bureaucratic, party and...