Peer reviewed analysis from world leading experts

Decapitating the bureaucracy in Japan

Reading Time: 2 mins

In Brief

The DPJ is doing what former Prime Minister Koizumi could only dream about. It is changing Japan’s policy-making system. The aim is to rid the system of potential blockages to substantial changes in policy direction.

Step 1: Unify the government and the ruling party by abolishing the DPJ’s Policy Affairs Research Council (PARC) and General Council (Somukai). This was done while in opposition, and the ‘government versus party’ phenomenon so entrenched under LDP rule has been eradicated.

Share

  • A
  • A
  • A

Share

  • A
  • A
  • A

Step 2: Target the bureaucracy for a dramatic curtailment of its policy-making powers and functions, thereby subordinating it to cabinet. LDP administrations were routinely characterised by weak cabinets and a strong bureaucracy. The bureaucracy led the cabinet because the ministries dominated the ministers, whose main role was to act as spokespersons and representatives of the ministries, particularly in budget negotiations. The heads of ministries – the administrative vice-ministers (jimujikan) – met prior to cabinet meetings in their own council (jimujikan kaigi) in order to set the cabinet agenda, discuss and decide what was to be ‘approved’ by cabinet, and agree on legislation prior to cabinet submission. Such practices allowed the bureaucracy to usurp the role of the cabinet, relegating it largely to a ratification role in government decision-making.

The DPJ has set out to reverse this situation under the rubric of restoring political leadership. It aims to centralise policy-making in the hands of the cabinet and turn it into a real decision-making body and final arbiter of government policy with much stronger whole-of-government, intra-government coordination powers. In this scenario the bureaucracy will become a body of obedient, apolitical, professional public servants acting at the behest of cabinet ministers – the Westminster ideal.

The means: get rid of the administrative vice-ministers’ council (jimujikan kaigi) and transfer its functions to a cabinet committee. And even more revolutionary, decapitate the bureaucracy itself: abolish the post of administrative vice-minister at the head of each ministry. Ministry in charge of the Government Revitalisation Unit (GRU), Sengoku Yoshito, announced just such a plan on 7 December. Taking on the administrative vice-ministers’ role will be not only the cabinet ministers themselves but also DPJ politicians in the posts of senior vice-minister and parliamentary secretaries, who will communicate policy decisions directly to the heads of bureaux within the ministries.

Not since 1886 has the Japanese bureaucracy been under such direct attack. The bureaucracy will simply not be represented at the higher levels of policymaking in Japan. Their meddling in politics has already been severely curtailed by new guidelines banning them from doctoring information flowing to cabinet, from holding press conferences (from the administrative vice-minister down), and from negotiating policies directly with ruling party politicians. Records of their meetings with politicians now have to be kept, which also limits independent policy input from DPJ backbenchers.

Comments are closed.

Support Quality Analysis

Donate
The East Asia Forum office is based in Australia and EAF acknowledges the First Peoples of this land — in Canberra the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people — and recognises their continuous connection to culture, community and Country.

Article printed from East Asia Forum (https://www.eastasiaforum.org)

Copyright ©2024 East Asia Forum. All rights reserved.