Japanese Agricultural Policies Towards 2000: Swimming with the Tide
Japanese agricultural policy has undergone substantial change in the last year. Since the completion of the Uruguay Round, the rice market has been partially opened, import quotas on agricultural products have been replaced by tariffs and there has been a general shift away from consumer funding of agricultural programs to funding by taxpayers. These changes are making Japanese agricultural policies more transparent and more open to scrutiny. There is now recognition in Japan that the changes are irreversible and that agriculture will be faced with increasing competition from imports.
The Political Construction of Agro-Food Liberalization in East Asia: Lessons from the Restructuring of Japanese Dairy Provisioning
Abstract This article asserts the significance of national-scale processes in the global restructuring of agro-food systems, especially in East Asia. Using an analysis of the recent restructuring in Japanese dairy provisioning, it documents how this trade remains orchestrated by government-commercial institutions that are organized and regulated to serve domestic agrarian interests. In the context of international disagreement on the future of the liberalization of agricultural trade, the implications of this study are that models of contemporary Asia Pacific agro-food restructuring should emphasize the ongoing importance of national institutions within the organization of trade, rather than assume prematurely the reality of a neoliberal marketplace.
Linguistic experts as semantic tour guides
This article examines the phenomenon of linguists testifying as experts on meaning in legal disputes over the interpretation of statutes, contracts, transcripts of tape-recorded conversations, and other important legal texts before courts in the USA. It concludes that there is an important role for linguists in such cases -- the role of the tour guide. It suggests that judges need not be concerned about linguists usurping the traditional roles of the judge and the jury as ultimate interpreters provided that the linguist's testimony is appropriately circumscribed.