The strategies of influence: Japan's agricultural cooperatives (Nokyo) as a pressure group

Abstract

Nokyo, Japan’s mammoth farm organisation is the subject of this thesis. The focal point of interest is Nokyo’s role as a pressure group and the relationship between this and other aspects of its diverse activities. The approach is primarily empirical: the thesis seeks to elucidate Nokyo as an organisation functioning according to its own logic. This emerges as a compound of historical, legal, administrative, economic and political factors. At the same time, broader theoretical issues are taken up including comparative references to patterns of Japanese interest group behaviour. Special attention is given to the extent of Nokyo's conservative bias and connections between Nokyo and political parties. Chapter 1 considers Nokyo's organisational structure and functions, while Chapter 2 explores Nokyo's policy-related activities in more detail. Chapter 3 examines historical aspects of Nokyo's official representation in the Diet; types of agricultural cooperative electoral participation are surveyed in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 takes up the issue of rice as the traditional focus of pressure from the agricultural cooperatives, with other commodities such as fruit and livestock products discussed in Chapter 6 in the context of the agricultural trade liberalisation debate. Throughout, Nokyo is seen as a group heavily committed to its own economic priorities, but exercising massive political clout as a result of the interaction between certain organisational attributes and external environmental factors. In policy terms, Nokyo's primary interest is in agricultural support prices. Related to this are the twin issues of rice as regulated by the Food Control system - Nokyo's chief source of official patronage - and protection of domestic farm producers from foreign competition. Japanese agriculture is seen as a highly managed and controlled industry with a substantial political content - both cause and effect of Nokyo's involvement in the policy-making process.