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This literature review covered three issues: the developmental state, the varieties of capitalism, and state-business relationships, including between the cultural industries and the state. The first section dealt with the concept of the developmental state first introduced by Johnson. Various topics were reviewed such as the characteristics of the developmental state, the conditions and motivations that explain its establishment as well as the debate on which states can be considered as developmental ones. This section also explained how the developmental state is very closely linked to the discussion on the diversity of capitalism.
In the second section, we reviewed the literature on the relationships between government and business in Japan. The traditional image of the Japanese policy-making process as a monolithic iron triangle composed of close ties between the LDP leaders, the bureaucracy and the big business community (Japan Inc.) was here contested. In the same vein, the idea that the state and within it a monolithic bureaucracy dominates the policy-making process was challenged. Indeed, in their analyses, neopluralist scholars have stressed not only the pressure of other groups such as opposition parties in the Diet and interest groups in the policy-making process, but they have also insisted on the inherent and generalized jurisdictional competition and conflict among the bureaucracy. Moreover, rational choice scholars have argued that the LDP dominates the policy-making process. And other authors have emphasized the role played by private actors. Regardless of their claims, researchers have mainly focused their efforts to understand the relationships between the government and the big business.
Scholars have also examined the features of state-business relationships. A group of them have paid attention to the mechanisms that foster such links. Unquestionably, the practice of amakudari has captured most of the attention. Few studies have been conducted with a general focus on business and politics in Japan given the difficulty to research on this topic. In recent years, following the recent interest of the authorities in the cultural industries, some authors have begun to analyze the relationships between these two actors, and have examined the characteristics of the cultural industries.
Two main findings emerge from this literature review. Firstly, the links between the state and the cultural industries are still an emerging area of research. As shown in this literature review, it seems that nobody has covered the reactions of the manga and video games sectors to the Cool Japan policy. Choo has dealt with the reactions of the anime industry, but before the setting-up of the J-LOP and the Cool Japan Fund. Secondly, the concept of the developmental state has been used to consider various industries, but not the sectors considered in this doctoral research.
Therefore, the next chapter will suggest a theoretical framework, the developmental state, to investigate the relationships between the state and the cultural industries. In particular, Chapter 2 will claim that, despite neoliberal reforms and the process of globalization, the Japanese developmental state still exists. Indeed, it has adapted to a new context.
2.1 Introduction
The relationships between state and business are central. Their links occupy a central position in contemporary political debate (Coen et al., 2010: 1). The government can be perceived as a regulator, and sometimes, as an adversary of business. It can also be criticized for having cosy relationships with domestic companies, protecting them from international competition and providing support to them through tax cuts, subsidies or technical assistance. The state is a major customer as well, buying a large array of public facilities such as roads, schools, jails, hospitals as well as military equipment (Wilson, 2003: 1-4).
Companies are divided on some issues, and tend to agree on others. For instance, if the government decides to raise corporation tax, it is likely that the business world will express its opposition. But, if the authorities reduce trade barriers, disagreement will certainly appear within the business community because firms have conflicting interests. Therefore, it is important to bear in mind that state-business relationships are multifaceted (Wilson, 2003: 7). They vary over time, and between countries, corporations, and segments of the economy (Coen et al., 2010: 1).
Various disciplines have contributed to the study of such links. Economics, especially the microeconomic tradition of rational choice, has focused on the rent-seeking behaviour of firms. Business studies have examined the growing phenomenon of corporate social responsibility, its motivations and consequences. Legal studies have dealt with companies in terms of their rights, responsibilities and liabilities (Coen et al., 2010: 3-4). Political science has mainly paid attention to analyzing the institutional structures and political environments in which corporations evolve. Yet, more and more scholars examine the actions and strategies of firms (Coen et al., 2010: 12). Within this discipline, this area of specialism has attracted less attention from scholars than the issues of voting behaviour, political parties, or legislatures (Coen et al., 2010: 9).
In the case of Japan, after the burst of the bubble and against the backdrop of the two lost decades21 (Porter et al., 2000; Lincoln, 2001; Funabashi and Kushner, 2015), the debate has shifted from the analysis of the causes of the Japanese “miracle” to the study of the reasons for such a long economic crisis. In the context of the globalization and the implementation of neoliberal reforms since the 1980s, the evolution of the Japanese developmental state and the relationships between business and politics have crystallized the debate.
The aim of this chapter is to present a theoretical framework to examine the relationships between the state and the cultural industries in Japan. This chapter claims that the concept of the developmental state offers the best approach to analyze the topic of research of this thesis. First, this chapter reviews the different theories that political scientists employ to understand state-business relationships, respectively corporatism, pluralism, Marxism and elitism. Whilst the first three suffer from shortcomings, the last one, in particular the statist tradition, offers a promising opportunity to develop a conceptual framework based on the notion of the developmental state. Secondly, the features of this sort of state are examined and its evolution considered after the stage of catching-up with Western countries and amid the globalization and the liberalization of the Japanese economy. Yet, it does not mean that the developmental state has disappeared. It has just transformed to face a new context. The last part of this chapter addresses the issue of the methodology used in this doctoral research.
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