Manchester University Press - Understanding governance in contemporary Japan

This book explores the transformation of the Japanese state in response to the challenges of governance by focusing on two case studies: ICT regulation and antimonopoly regulation after the 1980s, which experienced a disjuncture and significant transformation within the period with approaches embracing competition. In so doing, it reveals the transformation of the state and governance in a Japanese context and presents itself as an example of the new governance school addressing the state, its transformation, and the governance of the political arena in Japanese politics and beyond, setting out a challenge to the established body of pluralist and rational choice literature in Japanese politics. With its comprehensive review and analysis of the theory and development of Japan's contemporary politics, this book is suitable as a textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate courses as well as a guidebook for practitioners engaging in policies and businesses relating to Japan.

Reviews

'To the still small library of books on Japanese public policy in English, Masahiro Mogaki adds a well-focused study of the Japanese state and its core executive in Understanding Governance in Contemporary Japan.'
Hajime Isozaki, LSE Review of Books

'Masahiro Mogaki wants to bring the state back in to the study of Japanese politics. His book refreshingly runs counter to the dominant trends in the subfield that favor the study of electoral politics and civil society. Mogaki turns the debate back to governing elites, state structures, and the rich minutiae of the policymaking process.'
Steven K. Vogel, The Journal of Japanese Studies

'Exploring the transformation of the Japanese state since the 1980s, this book contributes to studies of the regulatory state and its governance. Among the many strengths of this book, identifying changes in power relations between multiple actors within the state, and engaging in a wide range of interviews to discover the institutional development of the ICT sector and the JFTC are impressive feats, and noteworthy to anyone who studies public policy, governance theories, and Japan.'
Euisuok Han, Pacific Affairs

Part I: Conceptualising the Japanese state and governance
1 Introduction: transformation, governance and the state in the Japanese context
2 The change of governance and regulation
Part II: Evolving regulation and governance
3 The evolving core executive in response to burgeoning ICT
4 Regulatory state transformation with an unusual approach
5 Piecemeal transformation: anti-monopoly regulation
6 Breaking the egg shell
Part III: The nature of Japanese governance with the transformation of the state
7 The regulatory transformation and the core executive
8 Governance in Japan: the implication of the research
Appendix 1
Appendix 2
References
Index