Bureaucratic Development and the Structure of Decision-making in Japan: 1868–1925

1970 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 347-362 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bernard S. Silberman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Random Sample ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
Major Change ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Role Analysis ◽  
Traditional Elite ◽  
Role Based

One of the major problems facing modern Japanese historians is that of providing adequate explanations for the nature and timing of changes in the decision-making structure after 1868. The domination of the decision-making process and structure by the civil bureaucracy indicates that bureaucratic development was a major factor in determining such changes.The civil bureaucracy underwent two dramatic changes in the period after 1868. The first occurred in the years 1868–78 and resulted in the integration, centralization and specialization of the bureaucratic structure. This was confirmed by an analysis of all increases and decreases in operations at the prefectural level—the level at which integration had been critical. The second major change occurred between 1884—1889 as the result of a series of reforms aimed at rationalizing the bureaucratic role. Analysis of the backgrounds and careers of a 25% random sample of all prefectural governors between 1868–1945 clearly indicates that by 1900 the norms of the bureaucratic role had changed drastically. From a role based on extra-bureaucratic norms—participation in the Restoration, possession of some Western knowledge and membership in the traditional elite—the “new” bureaucratic role was characterized by predominantly “legal-rational” norms. These changes had a number of consequences for the decisionmaking structure: 1) the centralization, integration and specialization of the bureaucracy placed decision-making in the hands of a small number of bureaucratic leaders thus laying the foundation for the oligarchic (genro) structure which now emerged. Decision-making roles were thus allocated on the same extra-bureaucratic criteria as upper civil service roles; 2) rationalization of the bureaucratic role undermined and finally eliminated the genro structure through elimination of the norms for selecting genro members. The resulting vacuum was filled by contention and conflict between the bureaucracy and the political parties both claiming legitimacy in the selection and allocation of decision-making roles. The result was a system of allocating decision-making roles which was informal, ambiguous and highly particularistic. The result was the instability of decision-making which characterized the post-1925 period. The hypothesis that bureaucratic development was a major factor in determining change in the decision-making structure thus appears to be confirmed.

scholarly journals Peningkatan Mutu Pendidikan Politik Perempuan Bali Menuju Terwujudnya Kesetaraan Gender

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 32
Author(s):  
I Gede Sudiarta
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
General Description ◽  
Political World ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Government Bureaucracy ◽  
The Government

<p><em>General description of women's participation in the political world in Indonesia representation is very low at all levels of decision making, both at the executive, legislative and judicial levels in the government bureaucracy, political parties both in other public societies. In this case the low quality of women's participation in politics occurs in Bali, namely in the executive ranks. Likewise, at the echelon II level, there were no women who obtained the position, that is, from the number of village heads in Bali there were no women who held more positions as lurah, even if there were only a few. In addition, in the organization of the </em>Lembaga Pemberdayaan Masyarakat<em> (LPM) in Bali, it is rare and there may not be women who become the Bendesa Adat or Bendesa Pakraman. This is also evident in the management of other organizations such as youth clubs and sekuna teruna. In an organization like this it is rare to find women becoming chairpersons or electing a chairperson as chairman or vice chairman. Based on this, a gender perspective is considered by involving men and women in the basic decision-making process of democratic work that will lead to equality.</em></p>

Noodzaak en overwicht van de politieke partij in de polyarchie : Analyse van de structurele en actionele determinanten van de particratie in België

Res Publica ◽  
1970 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-151
Author(s):  
Wilfried Dewachter
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Considerable Extent ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Instrumental Function ◽  
Vital Functions ◽  
The Impact

The Belgian polyarchy has developed into a «particracy» in which the political parties have a preponderant impact on the political decisionmaking.As in every polyarchy, the political parties fulfill a set of vital functions in the Belgian system. But that does not explain its «particratie» particularity. The particracy arises as a consequence of four factors. The parties are fixed by the «zuilen» (pillars) into an «internal-imperialistic» role. The power of the parties increased considerably, an increase of which the politization of the instruments for, and the agencies of, policy is one of the most important, together with the capability of making and unmaking issues. The impact and power of the opponents of the parties in the decision-making process have been diminished to a considerable extent. This weakening involves the king, the parliament, theadministration, the electorate, and, ultimately, the cabinet because of the growing impact of the parties on policy design and policy output as well as on the appointment of ministers. Finally, the choice of the consociational pattern of politics of accomodation by the elite indicates the instrumental function of particracy in Belgian politics.

scholarly journals Mechanisms of Representation

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Jennings
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Science ◽  
Political System ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Regulatory State ◽  
The Public

“Mechanisms of representation” relate to the organization of politics and its consequences, and the processes through which interests or preferences are represented in the political system and the outcomes of public policy. This article explores a diverse set of mechanisms through which politics is organized, and through which the preferences or interests of the public, voters, groups, and economic interests are either advanced or obstructed. Traditional approaches of political science often adopted a narrow focus on the formal democratic qualities of elected government and the pluralism of the political system in incorporating different interests or preferences into the decision-making process and policy outcomes. Later waves of research sought to explore bias in mechanisms of representation, such as the disproportionate influence of interest groups in the governmental process and the power of agenda setting in determining which issues make it onto the decision-making table and when. Nevertheless, there continues to be considerable interest in the role of formal political institutions in determining the performance of representative democracy, how political parties act as vehicles for representation, and how elections can provide mandates to governments and enable voters to reward or punish political parties or candidates for the quality of their representation or performance. Indeed, a growing field of enquiry identifies a direct link between the preferences of the public and their representatives, either in the representation of constituency opinion or in the responsiveness of the political system as a whole. Despite this pervasive concern throughout the discipline of political science with the functioning of democratic politics, important changes in modern states, economies, and societies occurring outside elected institutions also shape representation, particularly as executive governance and politics has assumed increasing importance. The conventional understanding of mechanisms of representation is built upon shifting sands, with the emergence of the “regulatory state” and the decline of traditional distributive and command activities of government, and with ever more “networked,” “nonhierarchical,” and “transnational” modes of governing—often by unelected authorities. These changing institutional arrangements also reflect a response to the rise of risk as a focus of organization, as traditional social and economic cleavages are redrawn and reconstructed around questions of risk—often manmade, created through scientific innovation or economic progress. These changes point toward the changing battleground for representation both of public and political interests and the increasing importance of understanding questions of bureaucratic politics and control, transnational regulation, the management of risk, and the preoccupation of officeholders with the avoidance of blame. Mechanisms of representation shed light on all these things and more, encompassing the role of institutions in reflecting public or private interests in the decision-making process.

Polish-Ukrainian Treaty of Good Neighbourhood. Analysis of the decision-making process

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 193-219
Author(s):  
Beata Surmacz
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
Neighbourhood Analysis ◽  
Formed Part ◽  
Intellectual Elites

2022 marks the 30th anniversary of the Treaty of Good Neighbourhood, Friendly Relations, and Cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. In the presented article, by applying elements of decision analysis, an attempt was made to explain the decision to conclude the Treaty. First, the decision-making centres in Poland and Ukraine, and their awareness with respect to Polish-Ukrainian relations, were presented as three separate circles: public opinion, political parties, and groups of the most important decision-makers. The decision to sign the treaty was possible thanks to the political and intellectual elites who originated in the former communist-era opposition, both in Poland and Ukraine. Those elites convinced the governing circles to accept their conception of foreign policy. In Poland, this was all the easier because people originating directly from those elites formed part of the decision-making bodies. In Ukraine, however, the foreign policy conception of the dissident circles was internalised by the President. Secondly, using the game theory and assuming the rationality of decision-makers, the decision-making process was reconstructed, understood in the category of interactions between two decision-making centres. The two states aimed to conclude a treaty that would satisfy both parties. It can thus be concluded that they demonstrated a readiness to compromise during the negotiations. It can also be assumed that this readiness was slightly asymmetrical in Poland’s favour. Ukraine was willing to sacrifice much more in order for the treaty to be negotiated.

Women in Power and Decision making Positions : Conditions and Restraints

1970 ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Azza Charara Baydoun
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Life ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Policies And Procedures ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Status ◽  
Slow Progress

Women today are considered to be outside the political and administrative power structures and their participation in the decision-making process is non-existent. As far as their participation in the political life is concerned they are still on the margins. The existence of patriarchal society in Lebanon as well as the absence of governmental policies and procedures that aim at helping women and enhancing their political participation has made it very difficult for women to be accepted as leaders and to be granted votes in elections (UNIFEM, 2002).This above quote is taken from a report that was prepared to assess the progress made regarding the status of Lebanese women both on the social and governmental levels in light of the Beijing Platform for Action – the name given to the provisions of the Fourth Conference on Women held in Beijing in 1995. The above quote describes the slow progress achieved by Lebanese women in view of the ambitious goal that requires that the proportion of women occupying administrative or political positions in Lebanon should reach 30 percent of thetotal by the year 2005!

Varieties of Intra-Party Democracy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin von dem Berge ◽  
Thomas Poguntke
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
Political Party ◽  
The Political ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Rare Exception ◽  
Empirical Analyses

This chapter introduces a new, two-dimensional way of measuring intra-party democracy (IPD). It is argued that assembly-based IPD and plebiscitary IPD are two theoretically different modes of intra-party decision-making. Assembly-based IPD means that discussion and decision over a certain topic takes place at the same time. Plebiscitary IPD disconnects the act of voting from the discussion over the alternatives that are put to a vote. In addition, some parties have opened up plebiscitary decision-making to non-members which is captured by the concept of open plebiscitary IPD. Based on the Political Party Database Project (PPDB) dataset, indices are developed for the three variants of IPD. The empirical analyses here show that assembly-based and plebiscitary IPD are combined by political parties in different ways while open party plebiscites are currently a rare exception.

scholarly journals A survey of methods for evaluating mini-publics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takeuchi Ayano
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Sufficient Information ◽  
Practical Case ◽  
Political Decision ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Political Decision Making

AbstractPublic participation has become increasingly necessary to connect a wide range of knowledge and various values to agenda setting, decision-making and policymaking. In this context, deliberative democratic concepts, especially “mini-publics,” are gaining attention. Generally, mini-publics are conducted with randomly selected lay citizens who provide sufficient information to deliberate on issues and form final recommendations. Evaluations are conducted by practitioner researchers and independent researchers, but the results are not standardized. In this study, a systematic review of existing research regarding practices and outcomes of mini-publics was conducted. To analyze 29 papers, the evaluation methodologies were divided into 4 categories of a matrix between the evaluator and evaluated data. The evaluated cases mainly focused on the following two points: (1) how to maintain deliberation quality, and (2) the feasibility of mini-publics. To create a new path to the political decision-making process through mini-publics, it must be demonstrated that mini-publics can contribute to the decision-making process and good-quality deliberations are of concern to policy-makers and experts. Mini-publics are feasible if they can contribute to the political decision-making process and practitioners can evaluate and understand the advantages of mini-publics for each case. For future research, it is important to combine practical case studies and academic research, because few studies have been evaluated by independent researchers.

The Legislative Decision-Making Process

1982 ◽  
Vol 32 ◽  
pp. 7-8
Author(s):  
Richard DeGraw ◽  
Bette F. DeGraw
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
American Indians ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Community Organization ◽  
Role Play ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
List Type ◽  
Provision Of Services ◽  
Legislative Decision

The Legislative Decision Making Process is an educational role play for graduate or undergraduate students concerning the political and pressure relationships involved in the political decision-making process. The role play reviews the implications of the decision-making processes upon the provision of services by governmental agencies.The role play engages from twenty to sixty students in a simulated budget-making and lobbying experience and utilizes this experience to teach students:1.The values and pressures considered by bureaucracies and the Legislature in decision-making;2.The relationships which exist between clients, community groups, administrators and politicians;3.The various techniques of Community Organization for lobbying and Legislative influence.The role play consists of various groups of students in roles which include legislators, administrators of three major state departments, two minor state departments, parent groups, Concerned Citizen groups, American Indians disabled individuals and ex-clients.

Les chefs de cabinets ministériels au Québec: la transition du gouvernement libéral au gouvernement péquiste (1976–1977)

1981 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 309-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
Micheline Plasse
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Civil Service ◽  
The State ◽  
Comparative Perspective ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Forces ◽  
The Government

This article first presents a brief survey of the role and functions filled by the personal aide (chef de cabinet) of a minister in Quebec. The analysis continues, in a comparative perspective, by tracing a sociological and professional portrait of the Liberal“chefs de cabinet” in April 1976 and their successors in the pequiste government in July 1977.We then test the hypothesis that the cleavage between the government and the dominant economic forces has increased since November 15, 1976 as a result of the ideology articulated by the“chefs de cabinet” regarding the social and economic aims of the state. This hypothesis was confirmed.The hypothesis that the pequiste“chefs de cabinet” exercise a more pronounced influence on the decision-making process is also confirmed. Nevertheless, one cannot argue that the pequiste“chefs de cabinet” usurped the power of the legislators; their influence is more political than technocratic. The growing influence of the pequiste“chefs de cabinet” neverthelsss helps to accentuate the tensions and conflicts between the higher civil service and the ministerial aides.

scholarly journals Poliheuristic Theory and Indonesia’s Absence in Deep-Sea Mining (DSM)

2021 ◽  
pp. 186810342110367
Author(s):  
Moch Faisal Karim ◽  
Willy Dwira Yudha
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Public Support ◽  
The Political ◽  
Decision Making Process ◽  
Political Dimensions ◽  
The Many

Indonesia is among the many states that have become interested in conducting deep-sea mining (DSM) since it first became viable in the 1970s. However, it was during the administration of President Joko Widodo (2014–2019) that DSM became an important viable endeavour, with the increasing depletion of Indonesia’s mineral and metal reserves. Nevertheless, Indonesia is yet to undertake DSM activity. This article aims to explain the absence of DSM in Indonesia by analysing the political dimensions of the decision-making process during President Widodo’s administration. This research utilises the poliheuristic theory (PHT) of decision-making. It shows that Indonesia’s DSM absence is the result of conscious decisions made by President Widodo to avoid loss in public support and drop in popularity. This article contributes to expanding the study of non-event or non-decision, which has been largely ignored in decision-making literature in Indonesia.

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