Ministerial Power in Kantei-Led Policymaking: The Case of the Priority Reform Promotion System for National Universities under the Second Abe Administration

This article examines the policymaking process of the Priority Reform Promotion System, a performance-based funding system for Japanese national universities introduced under the second Abe administration. Existing research has largely portrayed this process through the lens of Kantei-led (prime minister’s office-led) policymaking, which sees the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) as following directives set by prime ministerial councils. However, little attention has been paid to whether and how MEXT’s own preferences were incorporated into the policy design. Using policy documents and elite interviews with MEXT civil servants, this article traces the policymaking process from agenda setting to the final budget negotiations, taking seriously the agency of MEXT. The findings show that MEXT held clear preferences from an early stage and shaped the design of the system within the new Kantei-led structure. These findings indicate that the Kantei-led framework does not on its own explain who determines specific policy content and suggest that ministerial agency deserves closer attention in analyses of Japan’s centralised policymaking structure.