Legacies Remembered, Lessons Forgotten
The Case of Japan
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20072398 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Martin Painter (City University of Hong Kong, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2010 |
| Pages | 84-98 |
| Publication date | 2010-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | CHAPTER |
| Venue | Tradition and Public Administration (SOURCE_BOOK) |
| Publisher | Palgrave Macmillan UK (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1057/9780230289635_7 |
| OpenAlex | W2494204651 |
| ISBN | 9780230289635 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
Japan’s success as a ‘developmental state’ was often attributed in part to the qualities of its bureaucracy (Pempel and Muramatsu 1995). Close interconnectedness between a high-status, meritocratic bureaucracy and key economic actors, coupled with insulation of the bureaucratic elite from politics, facilitated close guidance of economic activity in pursuit of the national interest (Ginsburg 2001: 585–586). The concept of ‘embedded autonomy’ nicely captures this combination of qualities (Evans 1995). But in recent times many factors have combined to raise doubts not only about the continuing relevance of the developmental state model but also about the sustainability of Japan’s bureaucratic traditions. Japan since the 1980s has experienced wave after wave of reforms — privatization, deregulation, reorganization, administrative law reform, anticorruption reform — that challenge deep-seated bureaucratic traditions. The ideas behind most of these measures originated from overseas and, taken together, comprise a typical neoliberal agenda for a more hands-off ‘regulatory state’. Yet, in terms of outcomes, Japan has appeared to be a ‘reluctant reformer’. Writers have noted how Japan’s reforms have ‘staggered’ (Kawabata 2006: 4) or have faced ‘gridlock’ (Painter 2005: 243). Proposals for privatization reforms have been ‘mutilated’ (Toyama 1998: 392) and a new administrative procedure statute in Japan simply ‘re-equilibrates the status quo’ (Ginsberg 2001: 603). In sum, there has often been a ‘major disjuncture between rhetoric and reality’ (Beeson 2003: 39)
Bureaucracy · Developmental state · Elite · Meritocracy · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Public Administration
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,6 |
| Citation span | 2021 - 2026 (6) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |