EDITORIAL: Local autonomy reform

An opinion piece carried in the vernacular Asahi Shimbun in 1994 contained this passage: "Local autonomy is an attempt to break down the centralized system, which has been enhanced since World War II, along with the 'iron triangle' of politicians, bureaucrats and businesses that underpins the system."

The piece was written by then Kanagawa Governor Kazuji Nagasu, who advocated "an era of local communities."

In that year, the government drew up an "outline of decentralization."

Sixteen years on, the administration of Prime Minister Naoto Kan recently decided on an "outline of the strategy for local sovereignty."

While the term has been changed from "decentralization" to "local sovereignty," the new outline, at the outset, calls for a departure from the longstanding tendency toward centralization of power the nation has maintained since the Meiji Era (1868-1912), when its modernization began.

Progress in the reform has been glacial.

The administration deserves credit for proposing in the outline the abolition in principle of local branches of the central government.

But the document as a whole is abstract. For example, the proposal concerning the scrapping of the system that imposes legal restrictions on the way local governments carry out their work is grossly inadequate. This is extremely regrettable because the step, which has been demanded by local governments, should be the core of the reform.

Commenting on the enthusiasm over the reform initially displayed by the government led by the Democratic Party of Japan, our editorial in March welcomed the government's "big talk."

That enthusiasm has apparently waned. In particular, the DPJ has backpedaled on its signature initiative to replace state subsidies to finance specified programs with general-purpose grants for flexible use. These subsidies, controlled by ministries and agencies, have been underpinning the vertical relationships between the central and local governments that reflect the compartmentalized structure of the bureaucracy.

To change the situation, the DPJ proposed to replace the subsidies with grants that can be used for purposes chosen by local residents. The idea was to give prefectures and municipalities a new revenue source that is not affected by the boundaries between ministries and can be used according to the decisions by local governments.

Internal Affairs and Communications Minister Kazuhiro Haraguchi has fully supported the idea, saying the outline would be determined by a government task force comprising the prime minister, some of his ministers, academics and governors.

Haraguchi's remarks were a declaration that political decisions by the prime minister and other top policymakers would overcome resistance from ministries and agencies.

Both Kan and Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku nodded approvingly as they listened to Haraguchi talk about the issue.

But the general-purpose grant program, which was approved by the task force, was transformed at the last minute to allow the central government to maintain considerable control over the funds. The Kan administration has effectively allowed bureaucrats fearing lost power to roll back the initiative.

The backsliding has made the reform hardly different from the half-hearted decentralization campaign the government led by the Liberal Democratic Party promoted in tandem with bureaucrats in Tokyo.

Ministries are gaining more control of the local sovereignty reform. Remarks about the reform coming from senior vice ministers and parliamentary secretaries increasingly reflect the interests of their organizations.

It seems the administration is promoting "leadership by politicians in policymaking" under a scenario scripted by bureaucrats.

At the meeting of the task force that decided on the outline, Kan expressed his commitment to the reform by referring to Keiichi Matsushita, a political scientist who was an early champion of decentralization.

Kan concluded his speech by saying, "I guess the real battle has yet to begin."

If this indicates his determination to steer efforts to wrest control of policymaking from bureaucrats back to the original course, he must match his words with action.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 25