英文摘要 |
Civilian control is a type of politico-military relations of modern states in which the political sector controls the military sector. It is a necessary condition for the democratic political system. Hence, the degree of actual civilian control should be evaluated based on two factors of the democratic legitimacy: representativeness and accountability, where representativeness means the control of the political sector by the voters and accountability means the responsible attempts by the political sector to explain and persuade the voters. Based on these two factors, the civilian control of Japan under the Cold War and the 1955 System was heavily based on the bureaucratic control of the military, and thus evaluated as quite weak. On the other hand, the conditions for civilian control have been remarkably improved in contemporary Japan after the collapse of both the Cold War and the 1955 System, and ensuing changes in the party, electoral systems, and politicalideological transformations. To establish civilian control and even strengthen the democracy, it is an important task for Japan to build a more centrist consensus, beyond the ideological standoff, on security issues that can be supported by a broader spectrum of voters. However, recent LDP and its governments (especially under Shinzo Abe) seem to be going toward the opposite direction. |