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

尽管自由贸易协定在20世纪90年代的S时期广为传播，但在通常被称为自贸协定的“第三波”中，日本和韩国普遍对双边自贸协定持否定态度，反而称赞世贸组织的好处。然而，在一个戏剧性的转变中，两国政府今天都在积极寻求双边自贸协定。这些政策变化是如何发生的？本文通过对日韩两国自贸区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。它探讨了国内政策思维变化的根源，特别是政策发展模式的转变，对关键行为者、他们的偏好以及这些行为者之间冲突与合作模式之间的动态进行了实证研究。

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.