[talk] "Breaking Down Cozy Relations between Politicians and Bureaucrats"

Mr. Michio Muramatsu: Professor of Law, Kyoto University;

Born in 1940 in Shizuoka Prefecture, he graduated in 1962 from the Department of Law, Kyoto University and has been a professor in that department since 1976. In 1981 he was a visiting professor at Cornell University and in 1988 a visiting professor of St. Antonys College, Oxford University. Among his works are "Post-war Bureaucracy In Japan, which won the Suntory Award, "Local Government", "Japanese Public Administration" and "A Strategy of Bubble Economy In Japan"

Mr. Shinji Fukukawa: Manager of the Research Institute of Dentsu Inc.

Born in 1932, he graduated in 1955 from the Law Department of the University of Tokyo. In 1955 he entered the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (currently the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and became the administrative vice-minister. In the meantime, he served as a Private Secretary to the Prime Minister.In 1988 he left MITI and in 1994 took the present position via Vice President and Vice-Chairman of Kobe Steel Co, Ltd. Concurrently, served as together with the adviser to Dentsu Inc. Currently, he is a member of the Research Committee of Resources and Energy (the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and a member of the govemment's deliberative council. His works include 21 Century: Japan's Choice and Age of Information Technology: Idea of Successes.

The issue of Muneo Suzuki cannot simply be resolved by removing him because it is a structural issue (Muramatsu). In order to resolve this structural issue between politics and administration, leaders must first "create a consensus as to what is the role of politics and what is the role of administration" (Fukukawa).

Politicians are elected in local areas, but that doesn't necessarily mean that they should always represent the interests of the local areas from which they are elected. Nevertheless, they tend to take actions in favor of their own constituencies because that is their electoral base. That is the reason why politicians interfere in matters such as spending on public works. It is through these actions that they will continue to be elected.

On the other hand, bureaucrats depend upon the power of members of the ruling party when presenting the budget. Hence, there is a mutual dependence, making it difficult for bureaucrats to reject the requests of the politicians upon which they depend. A government-led political decision-making system is immediately required. Under this system, the head office on state strategy of the LDP would propose that the leaders of the LDP should have administrative roles as ministers, vice ministers, or parliamentary vice ministers. However, if the current mutual dependence remains intact, and if influential people work in the government, they will have the authority to implement and allocate budgets, risking a further compounding of relations between bureaucrats and politicians.

In order to avoid this risk, fundamental policies and the management of the country, treaties, budget and laws are decided by politics. It is the administration which should implement that which is decided by politics. In this way the roles of politics and administration are made clear. Furthermore, politics should not interfere in the administration for its impartial, fair and efficient management. (Fukukawa). It is of fundamental importance that these distinctions be made real. In addition, "people evaluate politicians on what policies they propose" (Fukukawa). To change politicians' consciousness is also necessary. Unless the mental attitude of politicians toward these distinctions changes and a greater understanding is created, the structural issue of politicians' and bureaucrats' roles will not be resolved. To check whether politics and administration work well on this basis, "it will be important to have continued information disclosure and evaluation of policies" (Muramatsu). When the distinction between the roles and behaviors of politicians and bureaucrats takes root as part of the overall cleanup of society, the attitudes of politicians and bureaucrats will significantly change.