Politics, the Regulatory Environment and HRM

After considering a media-based case study, this chapter considers, first, what we mean by ‘the state’; what it is composed of and how interests within society permeate the institutions of the state to influence what its role should be. Then we look in more detail into what the role of the state has been, in relation to work and employment, before considering what drives the major arguments that separate left and right political parties in seeking to be in government. A consideration is then made on what larger agendas may shape the scale and scope of political debates on these issues over longer periods of time before moving on to a specific case study of how measures to enhance the take-up of work-life balance in Japan.