"The Contemporary Japanese State System and Its Reform: How We should Evaluate the Administrative Reform in Japan"(in Japanese)

We define the "Developmental State Strategy" as a strategy to industrialize the country before democratization. Types of state system, developmental stages, international environments that are complementary to this strategy are identified. This strategy is quite effective in developing stage of an economic development. However, once the country succeeds in economic development, any "authoritarian government" without democratization is likely to be "captured" by vested interests and to induce crises because there is no incentive to democratize the country within its system. The administrative reform, which is currently proceeding in Japan, should be regarded as a spontaneous effort to democratize the country. We examine the necessary factors that make such an administrative reform democratize the authoritarian government.