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Vol. 2 No. 2 (2017)

Articles

The Process and Analysis of the National Civil Service Reform in Japan

https://doi.org/10.46996/dina.v2i2.5193

Published 2017-07-02

  • Yaskuyuki Watanabe

Yaskuyuki Watanabe
National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies

Abstract

The Japanese civil service system was reformed in 2014 by the amendment of the National Public Service Act. The amended act covers a wide range of areas, but the key point is the new appointment process for executive officials. The introduction of this new process changed the relationship between the Prime Minister and executive officials drastically. This article first describe the reason why the Japanese government had to undertake the civil service reform. This article will then analyze the content and process of this reform in two dimensions (i.e., transformational factors and transactional factors) by applying Burke-Litwin Model, after which it will explain how the reform changed the relationship between the Prime Minister and executive officials.

Keywords

Japan, civil service, public sector reform, policy-administration relations

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Author Biography

Yaskuyuki Watanabe

Yasuyuki Watanabe13 is an Associate Professor at National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Japan and a Specialist of Policy Planning, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Government of Japan. He has worked for the past nineteen years as government official to promote administrative reform such as postal privatization and civil service reform. He drafted the bill of “Basic Act for Civil Service Reform” in 2008 and the bill of “Partial Amendment to the National Public Service Act” in 2009. He has served as deputy mayor of Takatsuki-city and Nasushiobara-city and promoted decentralization.