The 2012 AAS Annual Conferenceで、"Re-examination of Bicameral Parliamentary System: Lessons from Korea's Failure in 1960-61 for Contemporary Japanese Politics"について報告しました。
Abstract
Korea adapted bicameral parliamentarism as a constitutional system in the 2nd Republic (1960-61). Although the Democratic Party won the majority in both lower and upper houses in the founding election in the wake of the April Revolution and the constitutional revision in 1960, there existed lingering rivalries between the New faction with Prime Minister Chang Myon and the Old one with nominal but not weak President Yun Bo-seon, resulting in the party splitting soon later. The upper house was the strongest by comparison in terms of legislative power although it was not accountable to the Prime Minister by constitutional design. Due to the party splitting and weak party discipline, Prime Minister Chang Myon faced the legislative deadlock stemming from divided government in bicameral parliamentary system. Having had known that it was pretty difficult for any single party or party coalition to enjoy a stable majority in both lower and upper houses, Park Chung-hee staged a military coup in May 1961 and revised the constitution into strong presidentialism.
Lessons learnt from Korea’s failure in 1960-61 have both theoretical and policy implications for contemporary Japanese politics. As Prime Ministers Naoto Kan and Yoshihiko Noda face divided government in bicameral parliamentarism with the Democratic Party of Japan a minority in the upper house, legislative supports urgently needed for the recovery from the quake/tsunami/TEPCO complex crisis are critically belated.