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Policy Ideas and Change in Japanese Bureaucratic Politics: The Ministry of Finance in International Monetary Crisis, 1969–1971

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2008

Tsuyoshi Kawasaki
Tsuyoshi Kawasaki
Affiliation:
Institute of International Relations, University of British Columbia
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Abstract

Under what conditions do dominant policy ideas change in Japanese bureaucratic organizations? The answer is developed in reference to a rare empirical case in which critical information has been released about intra-bureaucracy politics, the Japanese Ministry of Finance during the 1969–1971 international monetary crisis. The paper contends, first, that the crisis did not automatically lead to a change of a dominant policy idea prevalent in the Ministry. A policy change occurred only after tactful leadership was exercised by the highest Ministry official. Second, dynamics of paralysis and change were strongly shaped by structures and norms characteristic of Japanese organizations. At a more general level, the case study shows that the exercise of policy-changing leadership vis-á-vis bureaucracies depends on two intra- governmental structure variables: institutional arrangements within and surrounding bureaucracies; and the level of information control exercised by bureaucracies.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Public Policy , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 111 - 133
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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