The Breakdown of the Iron Triangle in the Process of Japan’s Trinity Reform: An Application of the Multiple Streams Framework to Compare Stakeholder Dynamics Inherent in Policy Change
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4335/15.2.221-242(2017)Keywords:
Trinity Reform, multiple streams, financial changes in intergovernmental relationships, policy entrepreneur, iron triangle, stakeholder dynamicsAbstract
To decentralize Japan’s fiscal system, the Trinity Reform, which was implemented from 2003 to 2007, reformed (i) the transference of tax revenue sources from the central to local governments, (ii) local allocation tax, and (iii) national subsidies and grants. This study drew on the multiple streams framework in public policy—including problem, policy, and politics—to understand the financial change process in intergovernmental relationships and the successes of Prime Minister Koizumi as a policy entrepreneur in breaking the iron triangle of the Liberal Democratic Party politicians, ministry bureaucrats, and local governments to administer the fiscal decentralization and local autonomy reform.
References
Barzelay, M. & R. Gallego (2006) From “New Institutionalism” to “Institutional Processualism”: Advancing Knowledge about Public Management Policy Change, Governance, 19(4), pp. 531-557, doi: 10.1111/j.1468-0491.2006.00339.x.
Baumer, D. C. & C. E. Van Horn (2014) Politics and Public Policy: Strategic Actors and Policy Domains, 4th edn. (Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press).
Birkland, T. A. (2016) An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making (4th ed.). (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe).
Furukawa, S. (2003) Decentralization in Japan, Japan’s Road to Pluralism: Transforming Local Communities in the Global Era (Japan Center for International Exchange), pp. 21-45.
Herweg, N., C. Huß & Zohlnhöfer, R. (2015) Straightening the Three Streams: Theorizing Extensions of the Multiple Streams Framework, European Journal of Political Research, 54(3), pp. 435-449, doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.12089.
Iijima, I (2006) The Secret Record of the Koizumi Prime Minister’s Office (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha).
Iio, J. (2015) Policy Analysis and the Policy Process in Japanese Government, In: Adachi, Y., Hosono, S. & Iio, J. (eds) Policy Analysis in Japan (Bristol, UK: Policy Press), pp. 73-87.
Ikawa, H. (2007) Recent Local Financial System Reform (Trinity Reform), Doctoral Dissertation (Tokyo: National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies).
Ikawa, H. (2008) 15 Years of Decentralization Reform in Japan (Tokyo: National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies), pp. 20-25.
Iritani, J., & Tamaoka, M. (2005) Japanese Fiscal Structure between Central and Local Governments: Welfare Assessment of the Trinity Reform of Japan, Government Auditing Review, 12, pp. 23-40.
Japan Local Government Bond Association (2015) How Local Tax Allocations Work, available at http://www.chihousai.or.jp/english/03/public08.html (December 16, 2016).
Kawato, Y., R. Pekkanen & H. Yamamoto (2011) State and Civil Society in Japan, In: Gaunder, A. (ed) The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics (New York: Routledge), p. 126.
Kingdon, J. W. (1995) Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies, 2nd edn. (New York: HarperCollins).
Koizumi, J. (2001) Policy Speech by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the 151st Session of the Diet, available online at: http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/pm/koizumi/speech0105.html (December 16, 2016).
Köllner, P. (2006) The Liberal Democratic Party at 50: Sources of Dominance and Changes in the Koizumi Era, Social Science Japan Journal, 9(2), pp. 243-257, doi: 10.1093/ssjj/jyl026.
Krauss, E. S. & R. J. Pekkanen (2011) The Rise and Fall of Japan’s LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).
Mochida, N. (2008) Fiscal Decentralization and Local Public Finance in Japan (Abingdon, UK: Routledge).
Mosier, S. L. (2013) Cookies, Candy, and Coke: Examining State Sugar-sweetened-beverage Tax Policy from a Multiple Streams Approach, International Review of Public Administration, 18(1), pp. 93-120.
Mulgan, G. A. (2002) Japan’s Failed Revolution: Koizumi and the Politics of Economic Reform (Canberra: Australian National University Press).
Nakagawa, K. (2016) Municipal Sizes and Municipal Restructuring in Japan, Letters in Spatial an Reseurce Sciences, 9(1), pp. 27-41, doi: 10.1007/s12076-014-0132-0.
Nitta, K. A. (2008) The Politics of Structural Education Reform (New York, NY: Routledge).
Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet (2004) Prime Minister Meets with Representatives of the Six Regional Organizations, available at: http://japan.kantei.go.jp/koizumiphoto/2004/08/24tihou_e.html (December 16, 2016).
Ripley, R. B. & G. A. Franklin (1990) Congress, the Bureaucracy, and Public Policy, 5th ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth).
Rosenbluth, F. M. & Thies, M. F. (2010) Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
Rubin, I. S. (2010) The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing (Washington, DC: CQ Press).
Sabatier, P. A. & Jenkins-Smith, H. C. (1993) Policy Change and Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
Saito, J. & Yamada, K. (2011) Local Government in Japan, In: Gaunder, A. (ed) The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics (New York, NY: Routledge).
Schattschneider, E. E. (1960) The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America (New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston).
Smith, K. B. & Larimer, C. W. (2013) The Public Policy Theory Primer, 2nd edn. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
The Council of Economic and Fiscal Policy (2002) Basic Policies for Economic and Fiscal Policy Management and Structural Reform 2002 (Summary), available at: http://japan.kantei.go.jp/policy/2002/0621kouzoukaikaku_e.html (December 16, 2016).
Thompson (2008) Japan in June 2003, available at: http://www2.jiia.or.jp/research/kikou/06thompson.html (December 16, 2016).
Tokuoka, K. (2010) The Outlook for Financing Japan’s Public Debt. In IMF Working Paper. (Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund).
Trends in Japan. (2002) Trendiest Phrases of 2001: Prime Minister Koizumi Takes Top Honors, available at: http://web-japan.org/trends01/article/020122soc_index.html (December 16, 2016).
Usami, M. (2015) Law and Public Policy in Contemporary Japan, In: Adachi, Y., Hosono, S. & Iio, J. (eds.) Policy Analysis in Japan (Bristol, UK: Policy Press), pp. 73-87.
Willoughby, K. G. (2014) Public Budgeting in Context: Structure, Law, Reform, and Results (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass).
World Bank (2016) Bank Data: Urban Population (Washington DC: The World Bank), available at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=JP (December 16, 2016).
Wright, M. (2002) Japan’s Fiscal Crisis: The Ministry of Finance and the Politics of Public Spending, 1975-2000 (New York, NY: Oxford University Press).
Yamada, K. (2010) Geographic Income Distribution and the LDP. Presented at the Conference on Japanese Political Economy (Tokyo: Institute for Social Science, University of Tokyo).
Yamamura, E. & F. Sabatini (2015) The Impact of the Media on Voters’ Attitude toward Junichiro Koizumi and His Policy, Japan and the World Economy, 34, pp. 24-32.
Yokomichi, K. (2008) The Development of Municipal Mergers in Japan, available at http://www.clair.or.jp/j/forum/honyaku/hikaku/pdf/up-to-date_en1.pdf (december 18, 2016).
Zahariadis, N. (2003) Ambiguity and Choice in Public Policy: Political Decision Making in Modern Democracies (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press).
Zahariadis, N. (2007) The Multiple Streams Framework: Structure, Limitations, Prospects, In: Sabatier, P. A. (ed.) The Theories of the Policy Process, ed., 2nd edn. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
Zahariadis, N. (2014) Ambiguity and Multiple Streams, In: Sabatier, P. A. & Weible, C. M. (eds.) The Theories of the Policy Process, eds. 3rd edn. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
Zohlnhöfer, R., Herweg, N. &Huß, C. (2016) Bringing Formal Political Institutions into the Multiple Streams Framework: An Analytical Proposal for Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 18(3), pp. 243-256, doi: 10.1080/13876988.2015.1095428.
Baumer, D. C. & C. E. Van Horn (2014) Politics and Public Policy: Strategic Actors and Policy Domains, 4th edn. (Thousand Oaks, CA: CQ Press).
Birkland, T. A. (2016) An Introduction to the Policy Process: Theories, Concepts, and Models of Public Policy Making (4th ed.). (Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe).
Furukawa, S. (2003) Decentralization in Japan, Japan’s Road to Pluralism: Transforming Local Communities in the Global Era (Japan Center for International Exchange), pp. 21-45.
Herweg, N., C. Huß & Zohlnhöfer, R. (2015) Straightening the Three Streams: Theorizing Extensions of the Multiple Streams Framework, European Journal of Political Research, 54(3), pp. 435-449, doi: 10.1111/1475-6765.12089.
Iijima, I (2006) The Secret Record of the Koizumi Prime Minister’s Office (Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbunsha).
Iio, J. (2015) Policy Analysis and the Policy Process in Japanese Government, In: Adachi, Y., Hosono, S. & Iio, J. (eds) Policy Analysis in Japan (Bristol, UK: Policy Press), pp. 73-87.
Ikawa, H. (2007) Recent Local Financial System Reform (Trinity Reform), Doctoral Dissertation (Tokyo: National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies).
Ikawa, H. (2008) 15 Years of Decentralization Reform in Japan (Tokyo: National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies), pp. 20-25.
Iritani, J., & Tamaoka, M. (2005) Japanese Fiscal Structure between Central and Local Governments: Welfare Assessment of the Trinity Reform of Japan, Government Auditing Review, 12, pp. 23-40.
Japan Local Government Bond Association (2015) How Local Tax Allocations Work, available at http://www.chihousai.or.jp/english/03/public08.html (December 16, 2016).
Kawato, Y., R. Pekkanen & H. Yamamoto (2011) State and Civil Society in Japan, In: Gaunder, A. (ed) The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics (New York: Routledge), p. 126.
Kingdon, J. W. (1995) Agendas, Alternatives and Public Policies, 2nd edn. (New York: HarperCollins).
Koizumi, J. (2001) Policy Speech by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to the 151st Session of the Diet, available online at: http://www.mofa.go.jp/announce/pm/koizumi/speech0105.html (December 16, 2016).
Köllner, P. (2006) The Liberal Democratic Party at 50: Sources of Dominance and Changes in the Koizumi Era, Social Science Japan Journal, 9(2), pp. 243-257, doi: 10.1093/ssjj/jyl026.
Krauss, E. S. & R. J. Pekkanen (2011) The Rise and Fall of Japan’s LDP: Political Party Organizations as Historical Institutions (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press).
Mochida, N. (2008) Fiscal Decentralization and Local Public Finance in Japan (Abingdon, UK: Routledge).
Mosier, S. L. (2013) Cookies, Candy, and Coke: Examining State Sugar-sweetened-beverage Tax Policy from a Multiple Streams Approach, International Review of Public Administration, 18(1), pp. 93-120.
Mulgan, G. A. (2002) Japan’s Failed Revolution: Koizumi and the Politics of Economic Reform (Canberra: Australian National University Press).
Nakagawa, K. (2016) Municipal Sizes and Municipal Restructuring in Japan, Letters in Spatial an Reseurce Sciences, 9(1), pp. 27-41, doi: 10.1007/s12076-014-0132-0.
Nitta, K. A. (2008) The Politics of Structural Education Reform (New York, NY: Routledge).
Prime Minister of Japan and His Cabinet (2004) Prime Minister Meets with Representatives of the Six Regional Organizations, available at: http://japan.kantei.go.jp/koizumiphoto/2004/08/24tihou_e.html (December 16, 2016).
Ripley, R. B. & G. A. Franklin (1990) Congress, the Bureaucracy, and Public Policy, 5th ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth).
Rosenbluth, F. M. & Thies, M. F. (2010) Japan Transformed: Political Change and Economic Restructuring (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).
Rubin, I. S. (2010) The Politics of Public Budgeting: Getting and Spending, Borrowing and Balancing (Washington, DC: CQ Press).
Sabatier, P. A. & Jenkins-Smith, H. C. (1993) Policy Change and Learning: An Advocacy Coalition Approach (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
Saito, J. & Yamada, K. (2011) Local Government in Japan, In: Gaunder, A. (ed) The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Politics (New York, NY: Routledge).
Schattschneider, E. E. (1960) The Semi-Sovereign People: A Realist’s View of Democracy in America (New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart and Winston).
Smith, K. B. & Larimer, C. W. (2013) The Public Policy Theory Primer, 2nd edn. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
The Council of Economic and Fiscal Policy (2002) Basic Policies for Economic and Fiscal Policy Management and Structural Reform 2002 (Summary), available at: http://japan.kantei.go.jp/policy/2002/0621kouzoukaikaku_e.html (December 16, 2016).
Thompson (2008) Japan in June 2003, available at: http://www2.jiia.or.jp/research/kikou/06thompson.html (December 16, 2016).
Tokuoka, K. (2010) The Outlook for Financing Japan’s Public Debt. In IMF Working Paper. (Washington, DC: International Monetary Fund).
Trends in Japan. (2002) Trendiest Phrases of 2001: Prime Minister Koizumi Takes Top Honors, available at: http://web-japan.org/trends01/article/020122soc_index.html (December 16, 2016).
Usami, M. (2015) Law and Public Policy in Contemporary Japan, In: Adachi, Y., Hosono, S. & Iio, J. (eds.) Policy Analysis in Japan (Bristol, UK: Policy Press), pp. 73-87.
Willoughby, K. G. (2014) Public Budgeting in Context: Structure, Law, Reform, and Results (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass).
World Bank (2016) Bank Data: Urban Population (Washington DC: The World Bank), available at: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS?locations=JP (December 16, 2016).
Wright, M. (2002) Japan’s Fiscal Crisis: The Ministry of Finance and the Politics of Public Spending, 1975-2000 (New York, NY: Oxford University Press).
Yamada, K. (2010) Geographic Income Distribution and the LDP. Presented at the Conference on Japanese Political Economy (Tokyo: Institute for Social Science, University of Tokyo).
Yamamura, E. & F. Sabatini (2015) The Impact of the Media on Voters’ Attitude toward Junichiro Koizumi and His Policy, Japan and the World Economy, 34, pp. 24-32.
Yokomichi, K. (2008) The Development of Municipal Mergers in Japan, available at http://www.clair.or.jp/j/forum/honyaku/hikaku/pdf/up-to-date_en1.pdf (december 18, 2016).
Zahariadis, N. (2003) Ambiguity and Choice in Public Policy: Political Decision Making in Modern Democracies (Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press).
Zahariadis, N. (2007) The Multiple Streams Framework: Structure, Limitations, Prospects, In: Sabatier, P. A. (ed.) The Theories of the Policy Process, ed., 2nd edn. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
Zahariadis, N. (2014) Ambiguity and Multiple Streams, In: Sabatier, P. A. & Weible, C. M. (eds.) The Theories of the Policy Process, eds. 3rd edn. (Boulder, CO: Westview Press).
Zohlnhöfer, R., Herweg, N. &Huß, C. (2016) Bringing Formal Political Institutions into the Multiple Streams Framework: An Analytical Proposal for Comparative Policy Analysis, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, 18(3), pp. 243-256, doi: 10.1080/13876988.2015.1095428.
Published
2017-05-01
Issue
Section
Article
