The U.S.-Japan Structural Impediments Initiative (SII) was an attempt in which U.S. and Japanese officials tried to solve trade frictions and adjust their economic systems both by creating an international epistemic community and regime and by accelerating domestic structural change through a joint bureaucratic structure (working group) and mutual pressure. With four multidimensionally-layered conceptual models, the book systematically describes and explains the political process of the SII, the reasons for its initiation and reaching agreements. Unlike most studies on U.S.-Japan trade negotiations which use the theoretically undefined case study method, the author tested propositions focussing on different factors (level of U.S. pressure, size and strength of various transgovernmental coalitions, and level of perception gaps) for different degrees of Japanese trade concessions across five SII issue areas (saving-investment patterns, the distribution system, exclusionary business practices, land policy, and keiretsu) by combining a detailed case study with content analysis of newspaper indexes and meeting records. The book adds to the tradition of U.S.-Japan trade negotiation/decision-making research with great insights and practical implications. It further develops Graham Allison's approach, applying it to international trade negotiation process, thereby enhancing the power of describing, explaining, and predicting outcomes of international trade negotiations. Intended for graduate students and specialists studying U.S.-Japan trade negotiations as well as policymakers practicing such negotiations. To know why and how the SII was initiated and agreed upon and what factors contributed to different degrees of Japanese trade concessions, four multidimensionally-layered conceptual models systematically describe and explain the political process of the SII. Unlike most studies on U.S.-Japan trade negotiations which use the theoretically undefined case study method, the author tested different propositions for different degrees of Japanese trade concessions across five SII issue areas by combining a detailed case study with content analysis of newspaper indexes and meeting records. The book adds to the tradition of U.S.-Japan trade negotiation/decision-making research. It further develops Graham Allison's approach, applying it to the international trade negotiation process, thereby enhancing the power of describing, explaining, and predicting outcomes of international trade negotiations. Intended for graduate students and specialists studying U.S.-Japan trade negotiations as well as policy-makers practicing such negotiations.

Schoppa documents how U.S. pressure has been misapplied in the past, insisting on the need for a strategy more informed about internal Japanese politics. While a strategy reliant on brute force is liable to backfire, he argues, one which works with domestic politics in Japan can succeed.

In a few years, the United States has gone from worrying about Japan's economic might to worrying about its meltdown. The rise and fall of America's 'results-oriented' trade policy towards Japan captures this turnaround. John Kunkel traces this Japan policy to a crisis in the institutions, laws and norms of the US trade policy regime in the first half of the 1980s. This arose from the erosion of America's post-war international economic dominance (especially vis-à-vis Japan) and the unintended consequences of Reaganomics. The crisis in turn led to the progressive ascendancy of a coalition of 'hardliners' over 'free traders' after 1985. Kunkel combines research in economics, politics and history - including interviews with key policy-makers - to illuminate this important case study of American trade policy. His book offers theoretical insights and practical lessons on the forces shaping US trade policy at the start of the twenty-first century.

First published in 1993. This book is situated at the intersection of three main areas of international relations research. The first of these areas is the study of international organisations. The second area of inquiry is international relations theory the decisions reached within international organisations are generally the result of some form of bargaining among their members, an examination of the negotiations that go on among member countries is necessary in order to understand the functioning of these organisations. The choice of the OECD as a subject of investigation stemmed from an interest in a third area of study, international political economy, in particular the relations among countries in the field of international trade.

In this book, Edward J. Lincoln tackles the thorny issue of U.S. trade relations with Japan, the subject of so much tension in the 1990s. In so doing, he builds on his earlier Brookings book, Japan's Unequal Trade. Lincoln argues that statistical evidence shows only modest progress in diminishing Japan's "distinctiveness." Despite an upturn in the mid-1990s, import penetration, intra-industry trade, and inward foreign direct investment all remain low relative to most other nations. High profile negotiating efforts by both the Bush and Clinton administrations made progress in chipping away at protectionist barriers but fundamental problems remain. While Lincoln offers suggestions on what needs to be done by both sides, the most important lesson drawn from recent experience is that expectations should be lowered. Any feasible approach to making markets more open in Japan is likely to yield slow progress. Such realism--not to be confused with defeatism--is the only approach that has any chance of realizing gains over time.