Sustainable transitions to localized elderly care: Policy niches and welfare regimes in Japan

Abstract

This study investigates the applicability of the multi-level perspective (MLP) in explaining regime transitions in elderly care policy in Japan. By combining existing transition theories with the particular Japanese context, further insight is given on the impact of various interactions in transforming niche projects into policy objectives and regime shifts. For these purposes, detailed process on the national long-term care insurance policy and the impact of the local policy for innovative elderly care are presented. The case study focuses on the impact of national subsidy (and particularly the project proposal grant) on the scaling up of niche policy by combining interests of both the local municipality and the central bureaucrat structures. Furthermore, the hybrid actors from local municipality and NPOs are also instrumental in bridging different levels of the government, as well as different niche sectors. This paper offers insight into the complexity of policy-making processes and the specific role that bottom-up projects play in shifting regimes that dominate policy agendas of the particular welfare state (Japan) by penetrating the top-down policy implementation process. This indicates the further studies of the policy dimension of the MLP in various types of welfare state are needed to understand the welfare transition in depth.