1998 Volume 1998 Pages 1998-1-011-
It is now the epoch of the earth environment. Governmental organizations, many municipalities promoting ecological reform and environmental NGO in Japan deal with global problems such as global warming. Now a confrontation is found between the government administration on the one side and self-governing bodies and NGO on the other side. The power of traditional political actors such as the national and local assemblies and political party declines step by step, because they are built in too deep by traditional interest groups and governmental bureaucracy. It is not easy that they escape from this structure.
In Europe and America, Green Party and environmental citizen’s movement have developed. As a result green politics occupied the important position in national and local assemblies and a political party. It can be to say adversely, that the political confrontation of environmental issues preceded assembly reform and modernization of the political party system. In Japan such “the new politics” was received instead of political institutions by several local administration and consumers cooperative organization. A progressive “local government” in particular becomes a leader of environmental policy. At first the measure of his environmental policy is being non-legal system of public nuisance prevention agreement with a corporation. Then, the measure becomes a legal form: the establishment of environmental basis regulations, which accept the participation of citizen in environmental administration. Local Assembly and a political party are passive on environmental issue. Only a few local assembly members, who have contacted with environmental movement, deal with environmental issue as main political ones.
But environmental issue needs to establish it as a new project of democracy, then the whole societies begin to change into the ecological life-world by various citizens’ participation. Such a challenge becomes an opportunity to reform Local Assembly and an antiquated faction system in an assembly. The new political party system must be different from a current system. A centralized political party of politicians becomes “local political party of citizen”. This new model of the political party is based on Network type organization and an idea of citizen sovereignty. A democracy turns into an interactive democracy from representative democracy. It consists of interactivity of the citizen’s political organization and institution such as local government, local assembly with local party system, direct democracy of referendum, NPO / NGO etc
