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Analysis of the Policy Network for the “Feed-in Tariff Law” in Japan: Evidence from the GEPON Survey

DOI: 10.17477/jcea.2016.15.1.041
Authors:
Sae Okura at Mie University
Sae Okura
Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki at University of Tsukuba
Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki
Yohei Kobashi at Waseda University
Yohei Kobashi
Manuela Gertrud Hartwig at University of Tsukuba
Manuela Gertrud Hartwig
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Abstract and Figures

Energy policy is known to have higher path dependency among policy fields (Kuper and van Soest, 2003; OECD, 2012; Kikkawa, 2013) and is a critical component of the infrastructure development undertaken in the early stages of nation building. Actor roles, such as those played by interest groups, are firmly formed, making it unlikely that institutional change can be implemented. In resource-challenged Japan, energy policy is an especially critical policy area for the Japanese government. In comparing energy policy making in Japan and Germany, Japan?s policy community is relatively firm (Hartwig et al., 2015), and it is improbable that institutional change can occur. The Japanese government?s approach to energy policy has shifted incrementally in the past half century, with the most recent being the 2012 implementation of the ?Feed-In Tariff Law? (Act on Special Measures Concerning Procurement of Renewable Electric Energy by Operators of Electric Utilities), which encourages new investment in renewable electricity generation and promotes the use of renewable energy. Yet, who were the actors involved and the factors that influenced the establishment of this new law? This study attempts to assess the factors associated with implementing the law as well as the roles of the relevant major actors. In answering this question, we focus on identifying the policy networks among government, political parties, and interest groups, which suggests that success in persuading key economic groups could be a factor in promoting the law. Our data is based on the ?Global Environmental Policy Network Survey 2012-2013 (GEPON2)? which was conducted immediately after the March 11, 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake with respondents including political parties, the government, interest groups, and civil society organizations. Our results suggest that the Feed in Tariff (FIT) Law?s network structure is similar to the information network and support network, and that the actors at the center of the network support the FIT Law. The strength of our research lays in our focus on political networks and their contributing mechanism to the law?s implementation through analysis of the political process. From an academic perspective, identifying the key actors and factors may be significant in explaining institutional change in policy areas with high path dependency. Close examination of this issue also has implications for a society that can promote renewable and sustainable energy resources.
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... A few recent post-Fukushima studies by political economy scholars have included an institutional analysis, however many of these studies rely heavily on rational choice theory which views institutions as being deliberately constructed by actors so as to promote and protect their own interests. These studies assert that institutional change in Japan's energy system has been effectively blocked by Japan's monopoly utilities, the so-called "nuclear village" and various vested interests conspiring to preserve the status quo [4]. Whether through institutional resilience (see: [5,6]), discourses that shape public perceptions (see: [7][8][9]) or the power of vested interests (see: [10][11][12][13][14]) the dominant perspective of this literature assumes that the public will has been ignored or subverted and that institutional rigidities fostered by cozy relationships among politicians, the bureaucracy and industry vested interests have prevented necessary changes in Japan's energy institutions. ...
... In Japan, non-governmental organizations are typically called NPO's (non-profit organizations).4 Japan Electric Power Exchange (JEPX). ...
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Correction to: Identifying the ‘Fukushima Effect’ in Germany through policy actors’ responses: evidence from the G-GEPON 2 survey
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  • Feb 2020
For reason beyond the control of the authors or the editors
... 4 The Japanese GEPON 2 (J-GEPON 2) was conducted in 2012-2013, and its German counterpart, the G-GEPON 2, was undertaken in Germany between November 2016 and February 2017. The sampling technique was not random, that is, the target population was identified in three steps prior to going out in the field (Okura et al. 2016). As a first step, we updated and cleaned the list of policy actors used for the first GEPON Germany Survey conducted in 2000; then we added actors who were identified via their participation in COP17 and COP21; finally, we confirmed our list with experts in the German energy policy field. ...
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