The Annuals of Japanese Political Science Association
Online ISSN : 1884-3921
Print ISSN : 0549-4192
ISSN-L : 0549-4192
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Volume 59, Issue 2
Displaying 1-17 of 17 articles from this issue
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  • The Influence of Central-Local Relations on Fiscal Deficits
    Fiscal Deficits, Japanese Style?
    Wataru KITAMURA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_11-2_36
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_11
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      This article analyses the difference in the rates of an increase in fiscal deficits between central and local government in Japan. Since the mid 1970s, central government had boosted its own deficits, whereas local government deficits had grown at a slow pace.
      The existing literature stresses the importance of the institutional arrangement which biased in favour of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA), responsible for local government finance. However, it fails to explain why, during the periods of 1975-84 and 1989-98, there was a marked increase in central government deficits, despite a slight increase in local government deficits.
      In this article, I argue that the political game of local government finance among the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), the MoHA, and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) does matter in explaining the unique pattern of Japanese fiscal deficits. The LDP, encountering the political instability, preferred fiscal expansion without taxation. Knowing the LDP’ policy preference, the MoHA strongly requested the MoF to raise the unconditional lump-sum grants to local government. As a result of the LDP's influence, the MoF reluctantly surrendered to the MoHA.
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  • Relaxation of Intergovernmental Regulations and Institutional Choice of Local Governments
    The Case of Board of Education Reform in Japan
    Yusuke MURAKAMI
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_37-2_58
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_37
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      In political science, there are many studies related to institutional choice. Previous studies, however, have exclusively considered the case of the national government. When we analyze the institutional choice of local governments, we must focus on intergovernmental relations and the socioeconomic context because the policy choices of local governments are restricted by these factors.
      In Japan, the national government obliges the local governments to establish the Board of Education. After the decentralization reforms, this regulation was criticized. However, if this regulation is relaxed, we are not certain whether local governments would be able to establish efficient and useful institutions.
      We conducted an empirical analysis to answer this question. In this research, we asked mayors whether the Board of Education would be retained or abolished if they could choose, and analyzed the type of mayors who wished to abolish the institution.
      We discovered that political conditions are the most important factors for institutional choice. The mayor wishes to abolish the institution when the mayor is supported from voters strongly but he or she can't have good relation to local assembly. The socioeconomic context, the mayors’ evaluation of the current system and their preferences for educational policy influence their choices; however, these factors are less effective than the political contexts. Intergovernmental regulation prevents political conditions from influencing institutional choices. Therefore, it is not necessary that local governments would establish efficient and useful institutions if the intergovernmental regulation is abolished.
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  • The Political Analysis of the Intergovernmental Governance
    The Political Process of ‘Real Estate Excise Tax’ in Korea
    Kyung Tae NAM, Min Kyu LEE
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_59-2_78
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_59
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      The purpose of the paper is to explore the reduction process of ‘Real Estate Excise Tax’ in Korea by using ‘Rational Choice Model of Local Decentralization’. To improve our comprehension of what this process should take into account, we ask two questions: 1) why did the ruling party (The Uri Party) target the reduction of ‘Real Estate Excise Tax’ that occupied most ratios in local tax, and 2) why did the opposition party change policy preference; The opposition party (The Grand National Party) insisted on reducing taxes for a long time. For this, we demonstrate that the ruling party lost almost all local powers in the Fourth Nationwide Local Elections in May 2006, and the opposite party occupied more than two thirds of local government; As a result, the ruling party weakened the discretion of local governments.
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  • The Political Process of the 2000 Decentralization Reforms
    Yoshitaka ICHIKAWA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_79-2_99
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_79
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      This article examines the political process of the 2000 decentralization reforms in Japan. Since World War n, most of the decentralization reforms have been frustrated in Japan. The 2000 decentralization broke this cycle and can be regarded as the most successful compared to the previous faltering attempts.
      This article identifies ‘the structure of the frustration’ behind the previous attempts. Though many researchers have tried to find out the reason of the success of the 2000 decentralization, they have failed to identify ‘the structure of the frustration’ and, as a result, have not given satisfactory explanations for the reason of the success. After identifying ‘the structure of the frustration’, the article depicts the political process of the 2000 decentralization as an overcoming process of that structure.
      Unlike many failed decentralization attempts, the 2000 decentralization acquired the support of the business and, as a result, high legitimacy among the government agenda. The article explains this process as ‘the politics of ideas’. The second distinctive feature of the 2000 decentralization was the creation of a highly influential advisory committee. The third distinction was the control exerted within this committee by members of ‘local government policy community’ who formed the majority. This article addresses how the committee formation was strongly influenced by Prime Minister Murayama and Chief Cabinet Secretary Igarashi who had the obvious intention of backing ‘local government policy community’
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  • Lower Budget, More Risks
    A Study on Policy Process of Governance in Public Hospital Reform
    Kiyosada SOMAE
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_100-2_124
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_100
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      This article tries to clarify how unpopular policy alternatives to sell public hospitals have been taken place in several prefectures. Approaching historically, the essence of public hospital is carefully examined to conclude that hospital is rather socially dependent. The role of a hospital in an area is determined by existing medical network there and the decision to reform medical system is likely to be independent for the area government. Since actors in this policy area should have medical expertise as well as historical background, the authorities, especially of National Ministries, is not prerequisite for hospital system reform. In addition, survivor issue plays a critical role in the policy process. There were many problems to be solved and the dificit in public hospital account was one of them. Although it seemed politically unpopular, it was relatively easy to handle for those prefectures. Thus circumstances around decisionmaker determine how the reform would go. Finally the author implies governance might carry clearer policy making but never promise good policy outcomes. Decisionmakers learn others’ exprerience very hard for two reasons: introduction cost would decline and moreover it can evade systemic meltdown from which people would suffer.
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  • What Does Education Mayor Take Over?
    The Impact of the Decentralization Reforms in Japan
    Eiichi AOKI
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_125-2_143
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_125
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      The central government had controlled the local government about the education policy. But, after decentralization reform was performed, control of the central government became weaker. The local government came to implement policies like school choice which had not been able to be implemented in 1980's. Moreover, in the local government which is implementing new policies, the mayor and Parliament use strong influence to the superintendent of education or the board-of-education.
      It is as follows that this paper clarified.
      First, progress of the institutional reform which enabled the local government to implement a unique policy. Decentralization reform law in Japan was enforced in 2000, on the other hand, in an education policy, the institutional reform which advances decentralization was being performed after the second half of the 1990s.
      Second, the main actors of the educational administration in the municipalities in Japan are the superintendent of education and the Board of Education. 25% of members of the Board of Education is a former teacher and 70% of the superintendent of education is also a former teacher. In five member of the Board of Educations, two persons are former teacher. That is, it became clear that there is no change in the constituent factor of the policy community of the education in a local government level in 2000's.
      Third, it became clear that a politician uses influence to the main actors of educational administration in the local government which implements unique policies.
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  • Recent Studies on Central-Local Relations
    Kengo SOGA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_144-2_165
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_144
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      This review article explores the recent trends of the studies on central-local relations. I categorize the researches into two; one which treats central-local relations as an independent variable and one which tries to explain the central-local relations as a dependent variable. In another words, the former asks what is an “institutional equilibrium” of the central-local relations and the latter questions how and why a central-local relation becomes an “equilibrium institution”. Although the inquiries on central-local relations in the United States cannot be said productive before 1990s comparing with other research fields, we see the improvement in this decade. I prospect the future trend will be the integration of the “institutional equilibrium” analyses and the “equilibrium institution” analyses. I also derive the implication and make a suggestion to the researches in Japan from the researches in the United States.
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  • Law and Violence
    dialectic of boundary setting/irregularity
    Atsushi SUGITA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_166-2_181
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_166
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      In the 1920's Germany, Waiter Benjamin probed into the conglutination of the law and violence, and expected for the so-called “pure violence” to transcend the coercive order depending on the law-violence. In response to this argument, Carl Schmitt tried to consolidate a system of the sovereignty where everything was to be solved within legal contexts, even in the state of emergency.
      Giorgio Agamben has successfully elucidated this “polemic” between the two thinkers. But his argument that the state of emergency has already been normalized may lead to an expectation of an escape from the present situation, like in the theory of Benjamin.
      In the 60's, in his theory on partisans, Schmitt warned about the risk of the erosion of a legal system by the “irregularity” of partisans. But Hannah Arendt's beloved “space of appearance” is actually rather similar to the “space of irregularity” of partisans. Seen in this way; the seriously dissenting thinkers coincide in setting a boundary between a desirable realm and an undesirable realm.
      However, this kind of boundary setting may not be necessary for the politics. What is needed is a continuous and endless negotiation between the dichotomous categories.
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  • Identifying the Domestic Anchors of Post-Cold War U.S. Foreign Policy
    Nobuhiro HIWATARI
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_182-2_216
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_182
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      The United States responded to the end of the Cold War by promoting trade with regimes that adopted market-oriented reforms but investing in weapons development to maintain superiority over non-democratizing military powers. This policy was sustained in Congress in spite of majority Party changes, divided government, and economic swings. This article constructs a framework that incorporates Presidential agenda setting, partisan debates over control of the agenda, and ideological overlap between the parties to identify the lawmakers behind this policy. This framework builds on Tsebelis’ veto player theory, which includes both institutional veto points and partisan veto players, and predicts voting patterns that differ from Krehbiel's pivotal politics model (focusing exclusively on institutional veto points), Cox and McCubbins’ partisan agenda model (examining only partisan veto players), or the two presidency thesis (emphasizing Presidential agenda setting). The framework is then applied to understand Congressional foreign policy voting patterns. An analysis of Congressional bills and resolutions on China trade, defense spending, and missile defense spending shows voting patterns that are in line with the predictions from this framework, rather than existing models and suggests that stable support for the above policy comes from a bipartisan, pro-business, and President-supportive group of lawmakers.
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  • What is “Evolutionary Political Science”?
    Tomonori MORIKAWA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_217-2_236
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_217
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      In recent years, so-called “Evolutionary Political Science” has drawn much attention from political scientists in the United States as well as in Europe. Little is known, however, about the overall framework of the approach, as it has been variously termed as “biopolitics”, “neuro-politics,” “evolutionary approach to political behavior” or “sociogenomics.” Scholars in this field share and emphasize human cognitive processes that have derived from an evolutionary perspective on human cognitive functioning and architecture. In light of the above, recent analyses on: (1) altruistic decision-making, (2) genetic influence on political behaviors, and (3) an “ultimate” approach to warfare are discussed in detail. In the process, I refer to important aspects of proximate vs. ultimate mechanism, nature vs. nurture, and general problem solver vs. “modular” architecture of the human brain -- arguments which are all closely connected with information processing mechanisms in the study of political science.
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  • The Politics of Policy Termination
    Cases of Dam Construction Projects in Japanese Prefectural Government
    Yosuke SUNAHARA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_237-2_257
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_237
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      This article analyzes how Japanese local governments decide to terminate policy programs, by examining the experiences of terminating dam construction in prefectural governments. Though Japanese local governments are commonly regarded as subordinate to the central government, they are granted considerable autonomy to implement investment programs. In fact, after the last half of 1990s, many prefectural governments have decided to terminate investment programs, such as dam construction programs which this article deals with.
      The author advances several hypotheses that the election system of local governments affects the motivations of politicians to implement dam construction programs, and examines those hypotheses by using the techniques of Event History Modeling. The empirical results of this article suggest that a change of local governor is the most important factor of policy termination and that the local assemblies which tend to oppose to the governor become substantive resistance force against termination. These findings demonstrate that the policy termination is not only economical or technical decision, but highly political decision.
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  • Liberalism as idealism
    −The political thought of Benedetto Croce between 1910 and 1925
    Takeshi KURASHINA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_258-2_275
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_258
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      The purpose of this paper is to discuss and revise the traditional interpretation of the political thought of Benedetto Croce first proposed by Norberto Bobbio and described by Giuseppe Galasso.
      According to this interpretation, Croce revised his political thought in order to confront the fascist regime because the logic of real politics, on which he had insisted during the Great War, meant that he could not criticize Fascism. The traditional interpretation maintains that, on the rise of Fascism, Croce came to lose faith in real politics and to shift emphasis onto an ethical criticism in order to justify the moral values of the liberal regime in the Kingdom of Italy.
      The paper suggests an alternative interpretation that Croce recognized his own political sympathy towards the Kingdom of Italy but did not criticize Fascism in direct support of the Kingdom. Neither did he convert his philosophy for political reasons; rather, he constructed conceptions of liberty and decadence, which were based on his original philosophy, and used them to analyse contemporary politics and criticize Fascism as a decadent regime.
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  • Self-Ownership and Equality
    The Merits and Limits of Left-Libertarianism
    Akira INODE
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_276-2_295
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_276
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      Left-libertarianism has attracted our attention as one of the powerful strands of political philosophy. Left-libertarianism endorses the thesis of self-ownership and reinterprets the Locken proviso in an egalitarian manner. It holds, roughly, that while people own their mind and body, unowned resources should be distributed equally among them.
      This paper attempts to specify the merits and limits of left-libertarianism. On the one hand, left-libertarianism has two merits. First, left-libertarians demonstrate the possibility of justice as a system of perfect duties in such a way that the thesis of self-ownership is reasonably weakened. Second, the left-libertarian (re)interpretations of the Lockean proviso lead us to see the plausibility of the proviso as an egalitarian principle of justice. On the other hand, there are two problems with left-libertarianism. First, some inequalities resulting from the difference of people's native endowments are left unattended in the left-libertarian argument, mainly because left-libertarians fail to distinguish voluntariness from non-coerciveness; the thesis of self-ownership guarantees the latter, not always the former. Second, left-libertarianism is vulnerable to real-life uncertainty. Given that uncertainty is a characteristic trait of our market society, this implication seems fatal to the left-libertarian argument.
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  • Bureaucrats and Decentralization Reform in Japan
    Hajime KIDERA
    2008 Volume 59 Issue 2 Pages 2_296-2_315
    Published: 2008
    Released on J-STAGE: December 28, 2012
    DOIhttps://doi.org/10.7218/nenpouseijigaku.59.2_296
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      It had been said that the agency delegated functions and the local financial system centralized the local autonomy system in Japan. The central government decided to abolish the functions in 1990s, whereas Koizumi cabinet failed the fundamental reform of local financial system.
      Discourse matters to gain agreement for reform. Japanese policy-making process needs “communicative discourse” (Schmidt 2002). But academic experts who commit in policy-making centers for the decentralization reform cannot make it alone. They need the help of bureaucracy for it.
      This article examines several cases in decentralization reforms in Japan and shows the presence of bureaucrats’ help contributed to the success of decentralization and its absence contributed to its failure
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