Abstract

saadia m. pekkanen
International Law, the WTO, and the Japanese State:
Assessment and Implications of the New Legalized Trade Politics

The legal rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have important implications for the way states relate to their own societies and also to each other.  In Japan, the state has increasingly invoked WTO rules to affect outcomes in trade politics.  Domestically, the state uses WTO rules to counteract protectionist interests in politically powerful sectors.  Internationally, it uses them to contest the acts of its trade partners to an unprecedented extent.  These rule-based, legalistic actions create winners and losers at both the domestic and international levels, with clear consequences for the relative power of key actors and institutions.  This is the essence of the new legalized trade politics in Japan and will greatly affect how the Japanese state relates to political pressures both at home and abroad in the coming years.

Volume 27, Number 1 (Winter 2001)
© 2000 Society for Japanese Studies