Born in 1968 and graduated from the School of Literature No. 1, Waseda University. After working for Itochu Corporation, I studied at the University of Warwick in the UK and earned a Ph.D. in politics and international studies in 2008. Before joining the faculty at the College of Policy Science, Ritsumeikan University in 2010, I served as a research fellow for the Global Institute for Asian Regional Integration, Waseda University’s Global COE Program; as a part-time lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Rikkyo University; and as a part-time lecturer at the School of International Liberal Studies, Waseda University.

I have analyzed the relationships between politicians and bureaucrats in policy-making processes during and after the 1990s, focusing especially on bureaucrats. While the 1990s in Japan are called the “lost decade,” it was also a period when Japan made significant progress in political and administrative reforms through the electoral reform and reorganization of government ministries and agencies. During this period, leading reform advocates, young policy experts and pro-reform bureaucrats rose up against politicians and bureaucrats representing the interests of businesses and industries and fiercely fought against them for the reforms.

I will further analyze the relationships between politicians and bureaucrats to identify appropriate relationships between “bureaucrats and the private sector” and between “central and local governments” in the political and administrative process through field research. In doing so, I aim to challenge the conventional arguments that simply suggest “bureaucrats should be excluded from the political process” and that “responsibility should be left to the private sector or to the local government.”

While all policies are made through a political process, policies that have undergone this process are often criticized as being far from ideal. However, I believe that the dynamic and intense energy that flows from competition among diverse actors in the political process has the power to change our society for the good. Developing good policies requires a practical approach, not a theoretical one. Why not join us at the College of Policy Science to study the practical policy-making process and feel the strong energy that accompanies it?

Policy science, contemporary Japanese politics, international political economy, British politics, comparative Asian politics

KAMIKUBO Masato’s note