 What's New
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0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 vol.1 |
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 Why is it Necessary for Diet Members to Improve Their Policy Making Abilities? |
| Recently, the public has called for improving the policy making abilities of Diet Members and shifting policy making leadership from "Kan" to "Sei." What is going on behind the scenes?
(1)Increasing Fluidity and Activism within Political Parties First of all, the Japanese political parties and their environment have recently become more fluid and remarkably active. The collapse of the 1955 Regime, which was caused by the division of the Liberal Democratic Party in 1993, led to the introduction of the multi-party system, a change in the alignment of the political parties, the birth and collapse of new party and the normalization of a coalition cabinet and government. In this fluid political environment, both old and new political parties are fighting desperately with one another to heighten both internal power and public support. If a party fails to make sufficient efforts, it will collapse or be absorbed by another party. To build its inner strength, a party must have its own political ideas, policies, philosophy and system from which it takes shape. Also, if a party cannot establish a distinctive and attractive policy system, it will lose its reason for existence. The fluidity and activism of political parties after 1993 have necessarily encouraged not only policy planning activities but also heightened recognition of the importance of policy planning among Diet members. (2)The Movement toward a Two-Party System Secondly, in the course of the fluidity and activism of the political parties, the election system for the House of Representatives has been transformed from a medium-size constituency system to a small constituency system with proportional representation. This has gradually accelerated the movement toward a two-party system. It is impossible to establish a strong opposition party which can assume power overnight. However, at the very least, an opposition party can plan a feasible policy as an alternative to that of the ruling party and attempt to obtain the support of the public for that policy. No longer will the role of opposition party be simply to criticize the ruling party, as was the case under the centralized Liberal Democratic Party. On the other hand, the ruling party must establish a policy which cannot simply be changed by the alternative plan of the opposition party and it must work to convince the public of the legitimacy of the current administration. This dynamic conflict in the Diet between the ruling party and the opposition party is about to activate policymaking. (3)A Sudden Change in the Economic and Social Environment Thirdly, recently the economic and social environment has suddenly changed. This means that Japanese policy planning and judicial system reform measures should be put into practice immediately. Various policies put into effect by the government to reconstruct the stagnant economy have not had much effect. More than anything else, this is an indication that the government should change not only the structure of its economic measures, but also its way of thinking about them. Moreover, economic activity has become globalized; the movement of international capital especially is enormous and rapid. Within this context, macro-economic management is often influenced by international factors. One of the key new assignments for politicians and administrators is how to deal with global capitalism. Simultaneously, highly advanced technical knowledge and policy making skills will be increasingly required as we seek solutions for problems involving money and non-performing loans. In the process, the old way of thinking, which supported post war economic development, must now give way to a new approach to politics and policy making. (4)Bureaucratic Impasse Fourthly, the bureaucracy is in a state of impasse. Politicians have become more dependent on bureaucrats because of political chaos in and fluidity of the political parties. However, for bureaucrats, this means that the situation has changed. With the Liberal Democratic Party devalued, other parties, including the opposition party, must now be taken seriously. After all, the bureaucrats are confused as to which party they should cater and have become less loyal to the party in power. If a real neutralization of the bureaucracy in terms of politics develops, as is the case in the United Kingdom, there will be no problem. However, the current political situation in Japan is different. The unlawful and intimate relationship between government, politicians and industry that has continued since the end of the war, has caused a stiffening of and impasse in the bureaucracy. Under these conditions, the morale of the bureaucracy is extremely low and there has been one bureaucratic scandal after another. Therefore, it is becoming more and more difficult for the bureaucracy to deal with the economic and social changes described above. From now on, it will become imperative for the bureaucracy to keep its distance from politicians in terms of both physical environment and legislative knowledge. For politicians it also means they must shake off their dependency on the bureaucracy for policy making assistance. |
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