The contradictions of neoliberal agri-food : corporations, resistance, and disasters in Japan / Kae Sekine, Alessandro Bonanno.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sekine, Kae, author.

Bonanno, Alessandro, author.

Series:

Rural studies series (Morgantown, W.V.) ; v. 4.

Rural studies series, sponsored by the Rural Sociological Society ; volume four

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Food supply--Political aspects--Japan.

Food supply.

Agriculture--Economic aspects--Japan.

Agriculture.

Agriculture--Economic aspects.

Neoliberalism.

Food supply--Political aspects.

Japan.

Neoliberalism--Japan.

Physical Description:

vii, 240 pages ; 23 cm.

Place of Publication:

Morgantown : West Virginia University Press, 2016.

Summary:

"Employing original fieldwork, historical analysis, and sociological theory, Sekine and Bonanno probe how Japan's food and agriculture sectors have been shaped by the global push toward privatization and corporate power, known in the social science literature as neoliberalism. They also examine related changes that have occurred after the triple disaster of March 2011 (the earthquake, tsunami, and meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor), noting that reconstruction policy has favored deregulation and the reduction of social welfare. Sekine and Bonanno stress the incompatibility of the requirements of neoliberalism with the structural and cultural conditions of Japanese agri-food. Local farmers' and fishermen's emphasis on community collective management of natural resources, they argue, clashes with neoliberalism's focus on individualism and competitiveness. The authors conclude by pointing out the resulting fundamental contradiction: The lack of recognition of this incompatibility allows the continuous implementation of market solutions to problems that originate in these very market mechanisms"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

1 Agri-Food in Japan: A Literature Review 13

2 Agriculture and Fisheries in Japan from the Post-World War II High Fordism to the Neoliberal Era (1945-2010) 39

3 Neoliberal Agri-Food Policies in the Aftermath of the 2011 Earthquake, Tsunami, and Nuclear Meltdown 69

4 Evolution of Corporate Agri-Food Industrial Policies in Japan: The Cases of Dole Japan, Kagome, IBM, and Sendai Suisan 93

5 Dole Japan's Agricultural Production 107

6 Corporate Agri-Food Industrial Strategies in the Aftermath of the Disasters 133

7 Fisheries and the Special Zone for Reconstruction 153

8 Agri-Food Corporations, the State, Resistance, and Disaster Reconstruction under Neoliberalism 171

9 Neoliberalism in Japanese Agri-Food: A Systemic Crisis 186.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781943665198

1943665192

OCLC:

932387389