Institutions, interests, and ideas: The evolution of developmental state systems in Manchuria, wartime Japan, and postwar Japan

This dissertation analyzes institutional origin and evolutional process of the postwar Japanese developmental state system from a historical institutionalist point of view. I argue that the Japanese postwar developmental state system has its roots in the crucial decisions about industrial structure made by the Japanese policymakers in Manchuria and wartime Japan in the context of preparing for a total war with the United States. The decisions made during the critical juncture continued to affect the evolutional process of Japan's economic system for several decades.;It also aims at explaining the context behind the path dependent evolutional process of the Japanese developmental state system. I argue that there are two factors that induced reemergence of a developmental state system in postwar Japan. First, there was an important personal linkage among the governments of Manchuria, wartime Japan, and postwar Japan. Those bureaucrats who built developmental systems in Manchuria and wartime Japan continued to occupy important positions in the postwar Japanese government. Second, in addition to the personal linkage, there was an important linkage in the policymakers' idea during these periods. The wartime developmental state system reemerged in the postwar period, not just because the same individuals were in power, but because these individuals maintained the same ideational guidance during and after the war. This ideational continuity explains the reason why the postwar policymakers reproduced a developmental state system.