The Policy Making Process in Free Trade Agreements : A Comparative Study between Japan and Korea

虽然在被称为“第三次FTA浪潮“的90年代，自由贸易协定开始扩散，但日本和韩国对双边FTA普遍持否定态度，反而称赞WTO的好处。然而，如今两国政府都在积极推进双边自由贸易协定，这是一个巨大的转变。这些政策变化是如何以及为什么发生的？本文通过对日本和韩国FTA政策制定过程的比较研究，探讨了政府与利益集团之间缺乏沟通渠道等制度性问题。报告探讨了国内政策思维变化的根源，特别是政策制定模式的转变，具体做法是从经验上审查主要行为者、他们的偏好以及这些行为者之间冲突与合作模式的动态。

Despite the diffusion of free trade agreements in the 1990's, in what is often referred to as"the third wave"of FTAs, Japan and Korea has generally held a negative attitude toward bilateral FTAs, lauding instead the benefits of the WTO. However, in a dramatic turnaround, both governments today are actively pursuing bilateral FTAs. Why and how did these policy changes occur?Conducting a comparative study of FTA Policymaking process between Japan and Korea, this study investigates the institutional problem such as the lack of communication channel between government and interest groups. It explored the sources of change in domestic policy thinking, in particular the shift in patterns of policy development, by empirically examining key actors, their preferences, and the dynamism of patterns between conflict and cooperation among these actors.