Japan: Reactive Leadership

Abstract

The current Japanese Constitution came into force on 3 May 1947. It installed a form of parliamentary government, which was apparently similar to the British system. The Constitution states that the legislature (known as the Diet) is the ‘highest organ of state power’ (Chapter IV, Article 41). The Diet is the sole law-making institution of the unitary Japanese state. It has the power to elect the Prime Minister and may dismiss the government from office. As with the British Parliament, though, the Japanese Diet has consistently failed to operate as the fulcrum of leadership in the country. However, in contrast to Britain, the weakness of the Diet has not been counterbalanced by a concentration of power in the executive branch of the central government. Instead, leadership in post-war Japan, as in Italy (see Chapter 7), has been characterised by the paradox of a stable system, but unstable governments. (For a list of governments since 1947, see Exhibit 6.1). An explanantion for this paradox must be sought in the leadership environment of both countries, which has centred around the actions of a hegemonic political party.