Systematic Comparative Study of Public Policies and Policy Processes in Japan and Korea

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This research project has three aims : (1)to explore the differences and similarities regarding public policies and policy processes between Japan and Korea since the 1990s ; (2)to create a general and issue-specific models to account for the differences and similarities ; and (3)to publish research results.As a product of this project, collaborators completed papers on the following policy areas : financial policy, macro economic policy, currency policy, trade policy, language policy, local government policy, and foreign and security policy. These papers either compared Japan and Korea, or focused on one country.In addition to examining individual policy area, this research project's another notable achievement lies at conducting a comprehensive comparative analysis of social structure surrounding policy processes in Japan and Korea. During the same three-year period, by relying on additional research funds from other sources, we also conducted surveys in the United States, Germany, C … More hina, Russia, and Turkey to analyze the basic structure of groups in various civil societies. While policy network surveys often focus on the most important policy actors, our survey pays attention to all groups, unions, clubs, and associations that exist in civil society.Through comparative analysis based on these surveys, we came to understand more at the basic group level about various organizations' structure, resources, behavior patterns, relationships with other actors, and the level of politicization. These can serve as an independent variable to explain policy processes and policy outcomes.During the three-year collaborative research (and previous and consequent researches) with Korean scholars, we carried out the empirical survey to achieve the above stated research aims. The results were published in a book that has almost 500 pages. (Tsujinaka, Yutaka, and Jaeho Yoem, eds.2004. Gendai Kankoku no Shimin Shakai, Rieki Dnatai [Civil Society and Interest Groups in Modern Korea]. Tokyo : Bokutakusha.)While we were conducting survey in Korea and analyzing the results, we have also conducted similar surveys in China and Russia by using the same framework. (Funding for these surveys came from other source). We then compared the Chinese and Russian data with the Japanese data, and produced a code book as a reference. Less