Koizumi Smashes Glass Ceiling

　　　　　2001/５/6 Daily Yomiuri Politics Inside掲載記事

The administration of newly elected Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi signals a new era for this country's political scene. The 17-member Cabinet appointed by Koizumi of the Liberal Democratic Party includes five women. No previous cabinet has included so many women.

Of course, it is not so important how many women are in the Cabinet, but whether they will be able to break "the glass ceiling."

Makiko Tanaka's appointment as foreign minister is significant because she is the first woman to hold such a key cabinet post. Serving as foreign minister--and as finance minister, for that matter--was once considered an essential prerequisite to becoming prime minister, at least while the LDP was the sole party in power.

Perhaps this significant crack in the glass will lead to an eventual collapse of the proverbial ceiling. In the United States, for example, Madeleine Albright's tenure as secretary of state reflected the loosening restrictions for women in business and intellectual communities. Some U.S. women were installed as presidents of major corporations around this time.

In this sense, Albright deserves credit for her success--not only for herself but for the sake of the new Japanese foreign minister. Albright should be commended for paving the way for women to become foreign ministers in many parts of the world when she fulfilled her obligations as the top diplomat of the most powerful nation on Earth.

Another remarkable feature of the Koizumi administration is his appointment of Nobuteru Ishihara, 44-year-old son of Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, as state minister for administrative reform. The young Ishihara's designation as a key promoter of administrative reforms may signify that the glass ceiling confronting young people has been broken in Japan, a nation that has long operated on the seniority system.

However, the makeup of the Koizumi Cabinet is open to question in some sense. Doubts have been cast about his administration's ability to surmount the formidable hurdles to thorough structural reforms. This does not mean that Koizumi does not possess the strategic mind of a politician.

Tanaka, an LDP lawmaker known as a reformist, is in charge of the nation's foreign policy. But her sphere of activity as foreign minister does not top the list of areas in dire need of reform.

A measure of policy continuity between successive administrations is important to the diplomatic relations of any country. Undoubtedly, the Foreign Ministry has several in-house tasks to tackle, including the scandal involving a former official's alleged embezzlement of the government's classified fund.

It is also necessary for the ministry to examine the progress made in reforming the current system governing Japan's official development assistance, a good portion of whose expenditures are covered by budgetary appropriation for other ministries and agencies. However, the major structural reform challenge facing the Koizumi administration lies in the economic sector--not the diplomatic sphere.

This is more or less true with the portfolio given to Ishihara, another LDP legislator known for his reformist mind-set. The government's ongoing drive for administrative reform was primarily launched by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto. Ishihara's task is only to pick up where Hashimoto had left off his reformist campaign.

Although Koizumi has appointed such highly popular reformists as Tanaka and Ishihara, respectively, to be the nation's top foreign policymaker and chief administrative reformer, the economy-related ministers in the Koizumi Cabinet are anything but a team of all-out reformists. In fact, new Cabinet members in charge of economy policy are largely lawmakers who also served in the preceding administration of former Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. One was a close aide to Mori who had previously served as an economic minister.

In this sense, it is disturbing that Koizumi has risen to power after severely criticizing Mori for his economic and other policies. Critics have said the economy is still struggling because Mori adopted a slow approach to the problem, similar to that implemented by his predecessor.

What would happen to the Koizumi Cabinet if it failed to carry out structural reforms in the economic sector, despite successful reform efforts by Tanaka and Ishihara?

Many junior and reformist lawmakers from the LDP have been philosophical about the lack of reform progress under former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and his successor, Mori. Despite their pent-up frustration, these LDP members convinced themselves that their party would be able to shed its skin.

To them, the launch of the Koizumi administration is a time for the LDP to move on from worn-out systems. The government's failure to take a radically reformist approach may reduce them to despair. That scenario could start a campaign to realign political parties and groups on an unexpected scale. Considering that a major driving force behind the launch of his administration came from a public enthusiastic about reform, any lack of reform will greatly frustrate his supporters.

During his campaign for the LDP presidency, Koizumi insisted on "change," a slogan championed by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in his campaign for the White House. Koizumi's fervent calls to "change the LDP and the nation" played a decisive role in ensuring that he swept to power.

The Clinton administration successfully bailed his country out of its worst recession in the postwar years, and brought the U.S. economy on the road to an unprecedentedly extensive boom. This enabled him to trim his country's worst fiscal deficit until at last he successfully balanced the U.S. budget.

LDP leaders must demonstrate their determination and ability to carry out reforms that could match Clinton's reform campaign, if they seek to convince junior reformist members of the party that their party has finally turned itself around. In this sense, Koizumi must run the government, knowing that the LDP confronts the most critical challenge since it was formed in 1955.

(Inoguchi is a professor of political science at Sophia University.)