Political Economy Of Japan - Essay Example

Political Economy of Japan Introduction Political economy of Japan is a highly debated topic among the external world because of the immense growth Japan achieved even after the total destruction of its resources by the Second World War. The rise of Japan, like the phoenix bird from the ashes of total destruction to highly prosperous economy at present is a big surprise to external world. No country was ever able to achieve such rapid progress after such a big humiliation from a war. In fact, Japan has presented the external world another school of economics, the Japan model similar to the Marxist model and Keynesian model. Rixtel (2008) has argued that the topic of who is responsible for Japan’s economic progress since the Second World War is highly debatable. While on one side, market schools denied the government’s contributions, on the other side, the government controlled schools argue that Japan’s progress was mainly due to the economic policies of the government (Rixtel, p.2). Even though Japan has progressed a lot since the Second World War, its economic progress has slowed down a bit for the last two decades. China and India like Asian countries were progressed a lot and they escaped from the current financial crisis whereas Japan was not able to do so. This paper is written as a debate with respect to the political economy of Japan during the post war era. Political Economy of Japan Japan was one country which is capable of adopting to foreign culture more easily without damaging its cultural heritage. Westernization of Japan during the Meiji Period (1868-1912) is the best example for that (Revolution in Japans Worldview, p.79). Political ideologies or theories may not have much importance in Japan. Country’s progress is given priority than anything else in Japan. At the same time the above blind imitation of western culture or policies has created lot of problems also, for Japan. The current global financial crisis has not affected India or China much, but it has affected Japan dearly because of Japan’s close relationships, trade interactions and investments with the most affected US.US is primarily responsible for the current crisis as per many economists and Japan’s increased association with US has retarded their growth because of the current financial crisis. Dr. Lairson (2009) has mentioned that Japan, the second largest trading partner, serves as a major source of savings for the U.S. economy, and is the second largest foreign investor in the U.S. (Dr. Lairson). To conclude the imitation of western culture and the dependence of America brought both good and evil for Japan Even though, America was responsible for destroying Japan through the Second World War, it is surprising to watch that America is at present one of the closest allies of Japan. Japan has cleverly adopted a strategy during the post war in which they relied US for their security while concentrating on the economic growth alone. This strategy helped them to reduce their expenditure on defense and helped them to concentrate fully on the rebuilding process of the country (Economic nationalism, p.243). Japan has tried a dual strategy in their foreign policy towards United States which affected them in the long run. At one side they have given US the responsibility of protecting Japan from external threats. On the other side Japan tried to exploit the opportunities in US. Japan thought that US is the biggest market in the world and investments in US will be safe because of the strength of American economy. But the current global financial crisis has taught Japan the lesson that no economy, how bigger it might be, is not safe. Moreover, the globalization has strengthened the linkage between world economies and any problems occurred at some part of the world may affect other parts as well. To conclude, Japan’s strategy brought only temporary gains whereas in the long run these strategies causing problems for them Kumon et al have argued that since the early 1970’s Japan’s political economy and the international system as well, has undergone a sea change. Living standards, level of technology, and the growth rates of Japan have undergone immense progress so that by 1980, the post war consequences were completely evaporated. Japan was able to challenge even the US supremacy in industrial and technological growth and became the second largest market economy by 1980. (Kumon et al, p.xv & xvi). But the growth trends of the Japanese economy have not lasted long. As mentioned earlier, Japan failed to devise an independent economic and foreign policy. They followed America for everything. On the other hand, India and China like countries have adopted more practical approach towards their economic development. India has followed a mixed economy in which they allowed private and public participation judiciously. China was also able to open up their market for FDI up to certain extent even though they strictly adhere with socialistic economic principles. Japan on the other hand followed the capitalist economic principles blindly and never thought much about the updating required for their economic principles based on the changing external business climate. As per the opinion of Cargill et al (2010), the current weak economy of Japan is attributed to the monetary policy in Japan, the `bubble economy and the Japanese banking crisis (Cargill et al). In short, Japan was able to overcome the after effects of the war, but failed to devise strategies for the future Rosenbluth (2006) has explained the sacrifices Japanese people did for bringing Japan into its current position in his article, The Political Economy of Japans Low Fertility. He has mentioned that the combination of an inhospitable labor market for women and insufficient support for childcare forced women to work harder to promote their careers, at the expense of childbearing (Rosenbluth). Japan has realised that the effort of the men alone might not help them to progress rapidly. Women also, thus forced to engage in the rebuilding process of the country which prevented them from conceiving. “Having children in Japan means that women often lose their economic independence, along with the satisfaction and benefits of a career; hence, many women have no choice but to forego motherhood altogether” (The Political Economy of Japans Low Fertility) The above policy did help Japan in the short run. But in the long run the above policy has created lot of problems. Manpower is the most important resource, a country needed for its economic progress. Japan is currently experiencing shortage of manpower in the industrial sectors because of the above policy. In short, Japan failed to recognize the importance of manpower in the nation building process Japan has given up their attention in building the military power and concentrated fully on the economic development. In pre-war Japan the slogan was “enrich the country, strengthen the military” (Hiroko, p.2). But the above slogan has changed to “enrich the country, strengthen the economy” during post-war. It is not wise for a country to focus more on the economic sector at the expense of defence sector. It is difficult for the external world to adopt the Japanese model of development because of the extreme hard work and sacrifice the Japanese people exhibit for their country’s growth. At the same time the above policy also created problems for Japan. The security and stability are the much needed tonic for the economic growth. Heijmans (2007), has mentioned that relations between Japan and China are extremely fragile at present and the bilateral relations fell to an historical low in recent years, and while this deterioration long resulted in ‘cold politics, hot economics’, they came to a point where even economic relations were increasingly politicized (Heijmans , p.22). Compared to China’s military power, Japan has nothing. They have the blind beliefs in the abilities of US in protecting them. But as per some of the statistics available, China may surpass US in the near future itself and will become the strongest superpower in the world. At that time US might not be able to protect Japan from the threats of China. The dominance of China in global politics and economic matters may result in some regrouping of political and economical cooperation between countries. The business groups in Japan already asked its government to repair Japan’s damaged relationships with China. China being the number one country (with respect to population) in the world is a big market for entrepreneurs. Globalization has forced China to open its economy for foreign direct investment and Japan should capitalize this opportunity as per the economists in Japan. ASEAN countries are increasingly polarized towards China, seeing the immense growth of China in Asia which is not digestible to Japan. Japan has lot of concerns over China’s growth as they are afraid of the beginning of another cold war between US and China which may not be good for Japan’s interests in the region. In short, Japan’s over emphasize on economic development prevented them from making a strong military power for its stability Japan was able to access the resources of the east Asian market because of the neutral stands most of the east Asian countries taken during the post war period (Imperialism and the new industrial society p.134). Most of the East Asian countries were members of the Non Alignment Movement (NAM) during the post war period which helped Japan to utilize these markets for their development. But the NAM is not functional at present and most of the NAM countries are now polarized towards America or China. So, it is difficult for Japan to get help from these countries in the future. Japan needed to redefine their foreign policies and should increase its ties with other countries also along with US. In short, Japan’s strategy to depend the NAM countries for economic development has not worked well as the NAM is not functional at present Conclusions Japan was one country which is capable of adopting to foreign culture more easily without damaging its cultural heritage. At the same time the above blind imitation of western culture or policies has created lot of problems also, for Japan as India and China like countries escaped from the recess while Japan suffered because of their close relationships, trade interactions and investments with the most affected US. Japan has cleverly adopted a strategy during the post war in which they relied US for their security while concentrating on the economic growth alone. Japan thought that US is the biggest market in the world and investments in US will be safe because of the strength of American economy. But the current global financial crisis has taught Japan the lesson that no economy, how bigger it might be, is not safe. Living standards, level of technology, and the growth rates of Japan have undergone immense progress so that by 1980, the post war consequences were completely evaporated. But Japan failed to devise an independent economic and foreign policy. They followed America for everything which caused problems in Japanese economy recently. The combination of an inhospitable labor market for women and insufficient support for childcare forced women to work harder to promote their careers, at the expense of childbearing. The above policy did help Japan in the short run. But in the long run the above policy has created lot of problems. Japan has given up their attention in building the military power and concentrated fully on the economic development. It is not wise for a country to focus more on the economic sector at the expense of defence sector. The security and stability are the much needed tonic for the economic growth. Japan was able to access the resources of the east Asian market because of the neutral stands most of the east Asian countries taken during the post war period. It is difficult for Japan to get help from these countries in the future because of their changing foreign policies. Taisho era had created strong democratic institutions in Japan with the help of judicious foreign policies. But the 1920 economic crisis has shaken the Japanese democracy and the aggressive militarists captured the power which caused Japan’s aggression and the subsequent wars. Economic problems always lead a country towards unhealthy incidents as the people will blame the government for the crisis. Opposition groups or aggressive military groups can utilize such scenario cleverly to capture power which was happened in Japan before the world war. At the same time the democratic governments before the war failed to fulfil the dreams of the people. Foreign policies alone may not boost the economy. Foreign policies and the internal policies should be streamlined in the right path for the proper development of the economy. In short, both the democratic governments and the military groups which ruled Japan before the war are equally responsible for putting Japan in deep trouble before the war. Works Cited 1. Cargill Thomas F. , Hutchison Michael M. and Ito Takatoshi. 2010. “The Political Economy of Japanese Monetary Policy”. 08 February 2010. 2. Dr. Lairson, Thomas. 2009. “Political Economy of Japan”. 08 February 2010. 3. Economic nationalism 4. Hiroko, Takeda. 2004. The Political Economy of Reproduction in Japan. Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (November 22, 2004) 5. Heijmans, Maaike. 2007. “The Future of the East Asian Political Economy: China, Japan and Regional Integration”. 08 February 2010. 6. Imperialism and the new industrial society 7. Kumon Shumpei, Rosovsky Henry, Yamamura Kōzō, “The Political Economy of Japan: Cultural and Social Dynamics”. 08 February 2010. 8. Rixtel, Adrian van. 2008. Informality and Monetary Policy in Japan: The Political Economy of Bank Performance Publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1 edition (August 21, 2008) 9. Revolution in Japans Worldview 10. Rosenbluth, Frances McCall. 2006. “The Political Economy of Japans Low Fertility”. 08 February 2010. 11. “The Political Economy of Japans Low Fertility”. 2006. 08 February 2010. Read More