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Japan Specialist Seminars

Specialist Seminars

Origins of Government Mansion-Drive Policy : Democracy, Empire, External Pressure's Details
Theme Origins of Government Mansion-Drive Policy : Democracy, Empire, External Pressure
Presenter Maeda Kentaro(前田健太郎) Graduate School of Law and Politics, University of Tokyo Graduate School
Time June 15, 2021 (Tuesday) 12:30-14:00
Venue Zoom Webinar
No. 255
Discussion
On June 15, 2021, the 255th Japan Expert Invitation Seminar was held as a webinar. In the presence of about 40 participants, Kentaro Maeda, a professor at the Graduate School of Law and Political Science, University of Tokyo Graduate School, gave a presentation on the theme of ‘The Origin of Mansion Drive Policy: Democracy, Empire, and External Pressure’. The contents of the presentation are as follows.

This presentation pays attention to the fact that the Mansion-led policy-making trend that has emerged in Japan since the 1990s, concentrating power on the prime minister, is different from the administrative reforms of other countries based on the decentralization of the bureaucracy. Under the tradition of the Japanese bureaucracy from the pre-war period, bureaucratic-led policy formation continued in Japan after the war, but following several administrative reforms since the 1990s, the number of cabinet officials rapidly increased, moving toward a government-led bureaucracy and democratic control. In order to understand the origins of the government residence, the presenter attempts to approach it from the perspective of the historical heritage of the Japanese Empire, especially from the perspective of including the East Asian region including Korea.

The origin of the government residence capital As a historical origin, it is necessary to go back to the Taisho democracie. The collapse of the Taisho democracies was discussed as the conventional theory of the “Divide and Occupy (割據) Theory" proposed by Kiyoaki Tsuji as a conventional theory, but rather, we can focus on the factor that destabilized the empire, the element of the nation. At that time, Japan was in a situation where imperialism preceded capitalism, and the loss of a colony was directly linked to military weakness. Therefore, it can be said that Japan was more vulnerable to colonial nationalism than to class confrontation within the country. After World War I, an external crisis was created by the military, which later led to the collapse of the political party cabinet.

According to Tsuji's view, even after the post-war reforms, the historical conditions of the Japanese Empire, that is, the bureaucracy, were maintained and strengthened, and it can be said that the pre-war status quo continued. However, the character of a weak cabinet was rather advantageous for post-war democracy. The 1st Temporary Administrative Investigation Society, which appeared in the 1960s to advocate the establishment of the Cabinet Office, can be said to be the origin of the government-led initiative to this day.

Afterwards, the flow of mansion-led institutional reform occurred again under the Nakasone administration in the 1980s due to administrative reforms including the 2nd Provisional Administrative Survey Society. The reforms of this period can be viewed in relation to external pressure. There was a financial contradiction between external pressure from the United States demanding an increase in fiscal spending and the reform of the Nakasone regime, which advocated “tax-free financial reconstruction.” In the end, Nakasone's decision led to administrative reform through external pressure. If you understand this from the point of view of international politics, Japan at that time lacked regionalism as a legacy of the Japanese Empire, and unlike Europe that succeeded in creating the EU, it was a structure that was vulnerable to external pressures that had no option other than cooperation with the United States.

After the 1990s, due to the stagnant Japanese economy, external pressure from the United States was alleviated, and the bureaucracy was dismantled due to the “government leadership” of the Koizumi regime or the “political leadership” of the Democratic Party, and a trend toward democratic administration developed. In conclusion, the origins of government-led administration have been forgotten in the administrative reforms since this period.

After the presentation, Q&A session followed. Regarding the democratic nature of Japanese politics, the perspective of 'segmented pluralism' that emerged after the late 1960s is related to this study. After discussing questions such as whether it was possible or not, what was the relationship with the character of the prime minister in addition to the historical flow of the government's leadership, the seminar was concluded.
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