ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the evident weaknesses of the two conventional models the public interest model and the regulatory capture model as they are applied to Japan's electric power or nuclear industry. This point of comparison that regulators are either selfless technocrats on one extreme or self-interested material maximizers on the other extreme allows one to formulate the two null hypotheses that are central to the research design of this chapter. It proposes to advance a different conceptual framework for understanding the puzzling socioeconomic situation of the Japanese energy market based on what Judith Goldstein and Keohane (1993) call causal beliefs about cause effect relationships that derive their authority from the shared consensus of recognized scientific elites. Promising to balance the demands of nuclear safety with national security and economic growth, decision-makers have organized ministerial advisory councils and committees to deal with further complexities of policy and safety.
