Public Must Help to Carry Out Reforms

　　　　　2001/8/3 Daily Yomiuri Politics Inside掲載記事

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has single-handedly pulled the Liberal Democratic Party out of the doldrums through the party's stunning House of Councillors election showing on July 29.

Until Morihiro Hosokawa set up his administration in 1993, the LDP ruled virtually unchallenged since 1955, when it was formed through the merger of two conservative parties.

During its long reign, the LDP has been dominated by vested interests, opaque decision-making and a widening gap between the people and their elected representatives. Before Koizumi assumed his post in April, the cabinet approval rating fell through the floor, and it appeared impossible for it to recover.

But Koizumi battered away at the closed nature of the LDP, proposed structural reforms aimed at skewering vested interests and, using his immense popularity, led the LDP to a victory that was once a dream.

Let us have a look at how this came about.

First, Koizumi was fully aware of the weakness of his power base inside the LDP, so he sought support directly from the people by showing that he was sensitive and responsive to their demands.

The evidence of this is shown in his economic policies, which give short shrift to vested interests--in his words, "sacred cows." It is also shown in his decision not to appeal a court ruling over leprosy patients, plans to increase nursery care schools and his stance on gender equality and other social issues.

These policies attracted salaried workers and working mothers in urban areas, who previously had tended to be floating voters.

Remarkably, the support rate for the LDP among those in their 20s, who until now have been generally apathetic about politics, suddenly shot up by six percentage points.

Second, Koizumi handles the tasks he sets himself quickly. After all, he assumed his post only three months ago but he has already delineated the policies he plans to take and is preparing to implement them fully.

His instructions to bureaucrats also is having an impact, which some people say reach them with the speed of a Shinkansen bullet train.

Despite promising to make drastic policy changes, the prime minister has not caused any personal animosity. It is outdated policies and doing things out of force of habit that he dislikes, not the individuals involved.

He maintains good human relationships because he has not led an elitist life, and appears to have room to consider the interests of ordinary citizens.

Third, Koizumi can be said to be a catalyst for a democratic revolution that is postmodern and internally motivated in a uniquely Japanese-style.

His popularity reminds me of the high support rates that citizens in other countries gave their leaders during democratic revolutions, from the American War of Independence to the democratic revolutions in East Europe.

Koizumi is trying to increase transparency and accountability in policies, change socioeconomic structures controlled by insiders, and strengthen policies to help women and the socially underprivileged.

The Koizumi-style democracy, a "silent revolution" designed to ensure that real democracy takes root in the country, seems to have won the voters over.

But after the election, some people questioned whether the prime minister was capable of carrying out structural reforms.

It is important that Japan should not be a nation where only the prime minister works hard. Remember the words of U.S. President John F. Kennedy: "Ask not what your country can do for you--ask what you can do for your country."

Koizumi should tell the people not to wait to see what kinds of reforms the government will carry out for them, but ask themselves what reforms they can carry out in their respective fields.

Democracy is not a system in which a single hero on a television screen carries out actions that make everything turn out all right. It is a system in which each citizen must participate to build a decent society ruled by justice.

In this age of reform, the Japanese cannot just go to polling stations and leave it at that. They should also play a role in carrying out structural reforms in their workplaces and local communities.

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