 That's good. Okay. So this morning my plan is to complete my discussion in Japan Okay, we'll continue with governance and policymaking where we had left off so and Then I'll start off with representation participation and complete my discussion with with current challenges any questions so far about the final exam about the The logistics about anything before we close Okay, let me let me continue with the material then Okay Organization of the state now, I think we were here the military Remember Let's draw them and this has been changed to rich Okay, so part of it was That after World War two the Allied powers said The occupation, you know after World War right immediately after World War two Japan is forbidden to rearm Given the peace clause Japan is a Pacific nation Okay, so given the peace clause Japan cannot rearm But So so the military was entirely dismantled Okay, but with the Korean War 1950 just a few years after the end of World War two With the Korean War starting With us backing Japan started to rearm, okay But but this was again If not the support But but promotion by by the US government and By the end of the decade the Supreme Court stated made a made a landmark decision and said hey Japan can defend itself Yes, we do have the peace clause, but Japan should be able to defend itself as an independent nation Okay, so Japan started to rearm With the you know taking into account that the you know Japan should be a or is a Pacific nation clause in into account it realized I mean the country will has been relying over the course of post-World War two period Japan had been relying on us support For keeping security, so it was under the umbrella under Cold War conditions It was under the US's umbrella security umbrella, okay? And it had been spending very little on On military expenditures When u.s. Russia Turkey Greece UK France Even Germany were ex were we're spending around 45 percent of their GDPs on military expenditures on military items Japan had been Had been spending less than always less than 2% if I remember correctly, but around 1% So imagine the wedge Between the four point five percent and the one percent so three point five three point five percentage points Goes to where? Where do you think the Japanese invested all those? All that all those resources Industrial development technology a skilled workforce education R&D, okay It does have a welfare state, but it's not a comprehensive welfare state as we have in In France for example or in Germany, okay, but it does have a nationwide system So so according to Cypri data Does anybody know what Cypri stands for it's an institute in Stockholm Stockholm Institute for peace research or Stockholm International Peace Research Institute which traces follows monitors and and publishes Data on military spending and according to their latest data that is for 2015. I have the figures your US spends By about three point five three point three percent So so so GDP once again was the value of all goods and services produced in a given economy in a given year Right, so the state is spending about 3.3 percent of All those the value of all those goods and services on military equipment military spending, okay Russia is still above 5% 5.4 France has gone down to 2.1. So has The UK Britain about the same To 2% Germany is about 2.1 percent Turkey has come down to 2.1 percent it had been you know over the course of 1990s even about 10 15 years ago. It had been 15 to 20 years ago. It had been hovering around four percent Like Greece for example our neighbor, but but has come down to 2.1 percent, but that's 2015 the numbers for 2015 So so imagine what kind of goodies you can What kind of wonders you can create with this extra 3% and imagine that? Imagine enjoying that over the course of 60 years Okay, the wedge the comparative advantage that you get from Lower military spending as opposed to your your neighbors and friends and foes And you're enjoying Security you're not worrying about security stuff and you're protected By by the US when we look at the judiciary. We have a Supreme Court Which is traditionally reluctant to pass judgment to declare laws Unconstitutional so it is the Diet which is in this respect in this framework Which is kind of the sole authority To pass legislation certainly the euro, but also the fact of because Especially under a predominant party regime, which we've talked about the party passes legislation and the constitutional court the Supreme Court Which reviews the constitutionality of laws the legislations Is quite reluctant to to declare any piece of legislation on constitutional? Okay, so so imagine the power That the predominant party LDP has which we shall be talking about in a moment and We there has been a recent change in the system They have adopted a jury system like the way the Americans had been operating so Constitutionality review constitutional review Yes, it's there to your but the but the fact though It's much it's it's let it's used much less or to it to a lesser extent than elsewhere Subnational government we have a unitary state and Subnational government does have limited authority. We know that So subnational government has much less administrative and much less financial control Over resources over personnel over the tasks that are assigned to This level or these levels of government. So we have the central state The central administration having a firm grip on subnational government So so subnational government or subnational levels of government have much less Authority in terms of decision-making and policymaking Okay, so so this is quite unique when you compare the Japanese case with those In other advanced industrialized societies we've seen right in the US subnational government is very strong UK Decentralization devolution subnational governments are getting stronger. Although it is a unitary state Germany is a federal state federal political system anyway, so I'm not even going into into that France had been one of the epitome epitomies of You know archetypical examples of centralized government, but that's also been changing as we've seen Japan is still Japanese central state is still holding Power central state central government is still holding a massive Authority over subnational governance Okay So so Japan had been or has been quite unique in That respect And when you look at central government it still collects more than actually two-thirds of all Taxes so so once again, it's a highly centralized system highly centralized government with the central government Enjoying a huge authority over a decision-making and policymaking When we look at policymaking We have the predominant party It's installed the predominant party regime We have opposition, but we have one party coming to power one election after another right and and so so party becomes more like state and state becomes more like party in The sense that it may become blur blurry In terms of state party lines, you know, where do you so when do you talk about the party? You also refer to the state structure in that respect too because it's the same party dominating state structures Over the course of many many many decades of 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s some losing of grip 2000s end of 2000s losing some of its grip 2009 but then back to square one again. So LDP is still powerful as we speak So what kind of policymaking? Has this predominant party regime or can this predominant party regime be characterized by we have You will remember that we talked about iron triangles For which case do we remember? Germany probably not us Recently remember We I we talked about the environmental agency Environmental Protection Agency Congress members of Congress and Interest groups or tobacco industry congressional subcommittees agricultural subcommittees and Tobacco industry, okay, right? So so Congress so legislature Bureaucracy part of the executive implementing agency and At the top would be you know on the vortex Vertex of the not the vortex the vertex of the of the triangle the third vertex would be represented by Pressure groups interest groups, so we have a similar structure here We have similar institutionalization regime-like institution here. We have Zoku These are clientelistic tribes within the LDP so so these are These are groups within the Predominant party These are experienced Members of the Diet these are experienced members of the party LDP and they are also Enjoying high levels of expertise, so they're also experts in their field What are these fields agriculture? transport construction so especially those sectors in Which the state spends a lot of spending going on so So so these members of the Diet with personal connections to Interest groups to pressure groups who actively lobby them and It becomes a game of you scratch my back. I'll scratch yours, too Okay, so so so what we refer to in the US as pork barrel Politics, you know, this term was originally developed for for for representing us policy-making structure You know legislation benefiting particular groups So you pass a piece of legislation which which is addressing a particular group in a given constituency in a given district and there is a politician a representative in that district so so You channel resources to that district in order to gain some votes or in order to gain support for a policy decision so so there is in the end preferential allocation of resources To a given region in Return for support in return for votes basically, you know to enjoy a political advantage Or electoral advantage to a certain politician or a political party So so iron triangles abound I'm sorry about this. So there are iron triangles entrenched vested interests Which are composed of just like in the case of the US we have, you know Committees in the deets so in both houses we have Ministries bureauc bureaucracies bureaucrats that is to say civil service and we have interest group leaders you know whose interests converge and who make policy altogether one Specific term that the Japanese have for this is zoku so so so So you can you can compare you can see the the comparison to the US case You know in both cases, we have pork barrel politics in both cases. We have clientelistic ties Isn't height in both cases We have iron triangles so vested interests and in both cases We have Reform which is difficult in Nate in in terms of the processes through which reform takes place, but Japan is a centralized state US is a federal state federal government Separation of powers is much stronger in the US compared to or in contrast to to the Japanese case And also on top of you know those those vested interests We also have a predominant party coming to power one out one election after another So so so reform becomes quite difficult To carry out to design but also implement So so these entrenched interests to students of Japanese politics Have been hindering all kinds of these reforms the especially the structural reforms that that were Taking up to the agenda back in the early 19 late 1980s early 1990s, but also throughout the the early 21st century to So then comes Representation of participation, so we've been we've been talking about Organization of the states governance and policymaking But we've also been talking about you know societal aspects interest Intermediation interest representation when we were talking about iron triangles Zoku pork barrel politics and all that so we have a Bicameral system or bicameral legislature the National Diet The House of Representatives 480 members they're elected for four years And we have the House of Counselors, which is the upper house the House of Representatives is the lower house In which there can be called a vote of confidence in the lower house, so it is the lower house in the sense that It is exposed to public opinion If public opinion changes against its members Then with a vote of no confidence the government may lose power Okay, so so so House of Counselors Upper house House of Representatives lower house House of Counselors have 240 something members 242 members. They're elected for six year terms And it's a splintered system so So half of the house The upper house is elected for Six years After three years the other half will be elected for another six years After three years the other half will be elected for six years So we call this a splintered system Okay, so it is in a way similar to the Senate in the US case, okay So so for six years when you look at terms of the legislature legislative terms Four year term is almost always Three years, so there's always early elections or snap elections because there is there's some kind of a crisis some kind of a turmoil and then the system Well, there there there is the government calls another election Bills are introduced in the House of Representatives the cabinet or the committee or by a member It goes to a committee But in these committees Given LDP's grip on the legislature These committees work like LDP committees or LDP led committees anyway Okay, because it's a predominant party system. Oh, it's a predominant party and they're passed by the House of Representatives which in turn are passed by is passed by the House of Commons or it could be vice versa It could go through the House of Commons first It could then be passed by House of Representatives. So so the order does not matter in the case of Japan Okay, and once Bill is passed in both of these Houses the upper house and the lower house the emperor promulgates In the official case it's a preforma It's a preforma Formality, okay, so so the the emperor promulgates except for the budget the emperor has no rights in in spending decisions spending and taxing decisions But especially spending decisions so so so As you can see Budget laws have a special standing in the legislative process So the chief executive will have much less say or the upper houses will have much less say in In decisions regarding budgets regarding spending because this has been the the archetypical right of the representatives In a given democratic system and it has been under the monopoly of Those representatives anyway, there's voting along party lines Which means that we have strong party discipline in the case of Japan and membership of these houses are in a way hereditary Not the euro of course so we have we don't have anything like that We have in the case of Britain, but de facto It is members if it is it is you know families like dynasties or families whose members are Our politicians Okay, so so we have political families which have strong ties with the political class and So so it is it passes from father to son Membership in the deets. So so in that respect it is de facto hereditary membership in the National deets Most business is is conducted in committees. So it is the committees Which are dominated which are led by the LDP in The house in the houses like it's in the deets So most decisions are taken by by LDP leds committees and It is, you know Zoku Iron triangles lobbying will all be Will all be carried out towards those committees. So that's where Most daily work takes place That's where the meat of legislation in the bill Is drafted that's where politics Give politics of give and take politics of you know quote quid pro quo politics takes place Tit for tat or you know, like there's there's haggling and haggling. There's negotiation Not much deliberation but negotiation Taking place in those in those committees Which are exposed to interest group politics Let me Talk about political parties We have the well We have of course the LDP Liberal Democratic Party, which was founded about ten years after World War two and It had been enjoying You know Huge power huge authority in the system since then so it's been it's been more than 60 years the LDP had been founded Those are the figures on the right lower house election upper house election house of councillors house of Representatives those those figures belong to an earlier date earlier date I'll give you the figures shortly, but let me talk to you briefly about the parties here What kind of a party system are we talking about? predominant party although we have Multiple parties right we have many parties competing against one another or we have in in effect all these parties competing against The LDP So it has been enjoying a firm grip on power firm grip on authority Policy-making decision-making over the course of almost 60 years with some intermissions late 1980s early 1990s and late 2000s 2009 2010 and until about 2012 So the liberal Democratic Party as You can see it's a right-wing center right, but but mostly right-wing party We have Democratic Party of Japan Which had been founded in 1998 which had merged only this year. I believe it was in March With Japan Innovation Party, and they have declared themselves as Democratic Party Clean government party So so these these parties would be representing more or less the center which have been contending for power and Social Democratic Party and Japanese Communist Party or other parties Which have been again, you know older parties in the party system but but which have not been able to To Gain ascendance to power Given LDP's firm grip on party politics Liberal Democratic Party represents stability Sure, what was the name of the party which led World War two I don't remember It's a shame, but Was it the Liberal Party? Let's look it up. Sure But what happened was You know in about ten years afterward World War two There were different parties Liberal Party Democratic Party and others they say okay, we we need national unity We need to consolidate we need to defragment We need to get unified So so they merged and formed the Liberal Democratic Party, which I Mean there are rival factions within the LDP They've always remained rival factions within the LDP because of these ongoing mergers some of these factions have have defected in time throughout the post-World War two period and The Democratic Party of Japan grew part in part from those factions But but but before that rival factions abound rival factions Are also bound by clientelistic ties So clientelistic ties are informal aspects of policymaking in which or whereby we have a Powerful patron in this case dominant party offering goodies offering privileges Offering resources such as subsidies such as employment jobs such as contracts such as lands distributed to the clients in Return for support in return for political advantage in return for electoral support electoral pledges So so there is in effect preferential treatment of these clients and there is you know variations of all forms of corruption involved and Japanese politics have Have always been sensitive to corruption It's it's it's I think it's waning that that particular character but But corruption scandals have have have always been very important in rocking LDP on not the party itself, but rival factions within the LDP So every two three years in the post-World War two period 1970s 1980s it was in the news that there was another corruption scandal and There was a new prime minister After that particular scandal so politicians do not remain in office in When there is a scandal You know bursting so So rival factions within the party They're all there as I've said they're bound by a clientelistic ties and That that explains to a certain extent This patron client relationships Zoku Entrenchment of entrenched interests So all of these explain to a certain extent How LDP had remained in power for all those decades? It has been remaining dominant in the especially House of Representatives But suffering losses since the late 1980s briefly and then you know and then 2009 But but has been gaining power since then So among the centrist parties was Democratic Party of Japan Which merged with the Japan Innovation Party There were smaller parties which made up the J the DPJ, I'm sorry Democratic Party of Japan which also relied on a faction that came out of the LDP So so they are or they have been contending for power in the Diet against Against LDP's firm grip and power Social Democratic Party formed in 1955 Communist Party was formed in 1945 and there are other parties Let me show you how the the predominant party had been faring since the 1990s and Democratic Party of Japan what used to be Democratic Party of Japan now Democratic Party had been doing in terms of Diet seats so so So so this is the combined seats in the Diet Okay, so both House of Counselors and House of Representatives as you can see Has been going up till 2004-2005 declining 2009 and in which periods we have 64 2-thirds of the entire house is dominated by the contending party Then sharply declining 2012 then sharply Increasing so so as you can see here last ten years or so Had been quite Unstable in terms of the composition of Seats in the Parliament in terms of you know who has power in the Parliament It seems That you know Observers have been have been arguing or have been speculating that the LDP under Shinzo Abe His or will be will will see another you know pattern of stability From from today onwards the latest election produced Let me talk about the latest election elections December 2014 that's about two years ago July 2013 for House of Counselors and House of Representatives Within the 475 seat Parliament LDP had gained about Basically 300 seats 294 seats that's that's almost two-thirds of The entire seats in the in the in the lower house and DP now DP what used to be Democratic Party of Japan is is holding about 100 seats or less than 100 seats House of Counselors among the 242 seats we have Liberal Democratic Party enjoying 150 15 seats and the DPJ now DP. I'm sorry. There's a typo there Enjoying about 60 seats 59 seats. So so these are the results for the For for the most recent Elections I Have about another half hour half an hour of material to complete my discussion But but before then we need to do course evaluations, so I'll step outside for about 20 minutes, okay, I'll distribute those to you. I'll hand in those to you and then I'll see you in about 20 minutes that is to say 40 let's say 50 1150 Okay, so in about 20 minutes Any questions by the way? No questions, honey and the figure yes 20 of 520 or 6 yes 20 to hear about you're about What happened huh? What explains that? Well there have been some scandals going on and it was on route to Late 1990s Japan is shaken by the Asian financial crisis, okay Early 2000s as you can see There there is there's a closer Wedge between between these two parties then the wedge increases then rock bottom I don't remember what exactly caused this I Don't recall much writing on this either But but it I mean much of the literature talks about this as an economic phenomenon the aftershocks of the financial crisis 1990s were turbulent years so was 2000s and Financial crisis worldwide great recession And with the financial crisis Japan had had also been shaken so so I don't recall anything in particular except for the global Great recession that that we've been we've been experiencing since 2007 2008 So it is to a certain extent the this alternation in this respect May have been may have something to do with well a lot of to do with the great recession So I would presume that would be the answer Okay, break