Impartiality : The Bureaucratic Consequences of Political Leadership

Outline

Political impartiality is regarded as one of the essential normative codes of the Civil Service in most countries as well as in academia. This book proves through detailed analysis of Minutes of the Diet that in Japan neither politicians nor bureaucrats share this sense and that the concept is given various meanings. It also shows how this drift from common sense affected discussion in the Diet and led to what kind of bureaucratic reform during the Heisei Era. Moreover, this book predicts, based on the comparison with the situations in the UK and other developed countries, its consequences for bureaucratic behavior and the whole nation, and shows under what conditions these consequences may be avoided.