>From Aurelia George Mulgan
Date: 2011/09/07

<< 'There has been a good deal of criticism of both Hatoyama and Kan for their tendency while PM to make statements about policy without consultation with colleagues. As you may have noticed, this tendency for 'policy-making on the hoof' has now been manifested by the new Minister for Health, Labour and Welfare, Komiyama Yoko, who in her initial press conference as minister expressed the view that the tax on tobacco should be raised significantly for health reasons, apparently without any consultation with colleagues.
Not surprisingly, other cabinet members - notably the Finance Minister, Azumi Jun, who is actually responsible for tax - have been slapping her down with statements that this is just her personal opinion. The impression is again given that the DPJ government is disorganized and uncoordinated. I am currently watching MBS's 'Asazuba' programme, which shows a big article in one of the sports newspapers about a 'battle' between Komiyama and Azumi. One of the guests commented that while Komiyama may hold this view - she is apparently well-known for her long-standing opposition to smoking
- she should be aware of her position as a minister.
It's hard to disagree. I find it quite amazing that DPJ ministers don't seem to have learned anything from the travails of Hatoyama and Kan. The Blair years in the UK were marked by tight coordination of ministerial statements and control of information to the press, to the extent that there was considerable criticism of the excesses of 'spin'. Fair enough; still, one cannot help feeling that the DPJ could do with learning something from the Blair government in this respect. I wonder what mechanisms, if any, the DPJ has for trying to ensure that its ministers don't stray too far 'off-message'. They don't seem very evident.'

Peter's comments hit the nail right on the head. This kind of behaviour was endemic in the Hatoyama administration in particular, with some spectacular spats between ministers and/or ministers and Ozawa (e.g. between Maehara and Ozawa over the road toll issue).

Peter's posting is basically asking: 'why is this happening?'

There are multiple (not necessarily mutually exclusive)
causes: the weakness of cabinet as a centralised decision-making body paired with weakness of Westminister-style norms of collective responsibility and cabinet solidarity. These institutional factors pre-date the Blair-ite insistence on PR management and all ministers staying on message, which just served to strengthen underlying Westminister institutions but were not the sole factor in play. In Japan's case, the institutional factors relating to government decision-making would militate against any superficial attempt at PR management of what ministers were saying.

Other factors are also in play: the lack of policy unity in the DPJ reflecting the disparate origins and ideological leanings of its Diet members; the counter-convention of ministers acting as spokespersons for their ministries, rather than imposing collective cabinet decisions on their ministries; weak prime ministerial leadership (as in Hatoyama's case); the Ozawa factor (deep-seated policy disputes fomented by Ozawa using policies as political tools); the persistence of open policy competition WITHIN parties caused by frequent leadership elections and public disputes/debates over policy; deep-seated career rivalries institutionalised in 'leader-follower groups'; the general nature of political parties in Japan as conglomerations of individual politicians pushing their own policy barrows resulting in poor party discipline (hangover from the pre-1996 Lower House electoral system?).

These latter factors all make it difficult for Japanese cabinet/parties to present a united front to the public in the way that is more common in other parliamentary systems.

Best wishes,

Aurelia George Mulgan
UNSW, Canberra