ABSTRACT

Agriculture is one of the most politically powerful sectors in Japanese national politics. This book provides the first comprehensive account of the political power of Japanese farmers. This definitive text analyses the organisational and electoral bais of farmers' political power, including the role of agricultural interest groups, the mobilisation of the farm vote and links between farmers and politicians in the Diet. Agrarian power has helped to produce the distinctly pro-rural, anti-urban bias of postwar Japanese governments, resulting in a general neglect of urban consumer interests and sustained opposition to market opening for farm products. This book represents a major study of Japanese agricultural organisations in their multifarious roles as interest groups, agents of agricultural administration, electoral resource providers and mammouth business groups. It describes the policy issues that engage farmers' concerns and identifies the agricultural commodities that carry the greatest political significance.

chapter 1|38 pages

Introduction

chapter 2|125 pages

Interest Group Politics

chapter 3|41 pages

Farmers' Politics

chapter 4|95 pages

Organisational Politics

chapter 5|80 pages

The Political Demography of Agriculture

chapter 6|94 pages

Electoral Politics

chapter 7|90 pages

Representative Politics

chapter 8|81 pages

Policy Campaigning

chapter 9|7 pages

Conclusion