Legislation Politics
Faculty
Description
The aim of this course, which I designate as ‘practical legislation politics’, is to survey the overall legislative process in Japan from a practical perspective. Although there is no generally accepted view on what ‘legislation politics’ is, the characteristic of this course in comparison with ‘legislation politics’ advocated by the other theorists lies in following two points, both of which are based on my own experience as a staff of the Legislative Bureau of House of Representatives:
that it will adopt not only a political science approach but also a legal one; and
that it will make an attempt to systematize what is or should be examined in the process of drafting a bill in terms of politics rationality and legal consistency as well as legislative technique.
The outline of this course is as follows. In a lecture I will give specific explanations along with actual cases.
Introduction: Analysis of Legislation (circumstances and features of the present-day legislation)
transition of legislation after the beginnings of a modern state
legislative tendencies in recent years such as an increase in fundamental acts and special acts
(1) Legislative Process (the process of drafting a bill)
the legislative process for and features of a bill introduced by the Cabinet and members of the Diet
(2) Parliamentary Procedure (the process of deliberating a bill)
characteristics of Parliamentary law such as the significance of precedents
an outline of the parliamentary procedure
(3) Legislative Practice (a tentative of making a draft manual)
the essence of legislative practice, i.e. 'translation' of legislative politics into a bill
the point of legislative practice such as politics rationality, legal consistency and legislative technique
roles of the staff participating in law-making process, especially political neutrality and official ethics
(4) Legislative Politics (issues taken into consideration in framing politics)
pending