野田新内閣スタート―「合意の政治」への進化を

2011/09/04
--The Asahi Shimbun, Sept. 3
EDITORIAL: Noda faces a herculean task.
野田新内閣スタート―「合意の政治」への進化を

Newly elected Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda formed his Cabinet on Sept. 2.
　野田新内閣が発足した。

The team he put together, along with top posts in the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, indicate that he had three key objectives.
民主党の幹部人事と合わせた顔ぶれには、野田首相なりの配慮がくっきりとみえる。

His first priority was apparently reconciliation between rival groups within the DPJ.
　一つめは党内融和だ。

In a gesture in that direction, he picked two members of the group led by former DPJ chief Ichiro Ozawa for his Cabinet.
小沢グループからも２閣僚を起用している。

Due partly to his attempts to restore harmony among party members, the Cabinet lineup has a low-key feel.
その結果もあって、政権全体の印象はかなり地味だ。

Noda chose all his ministers from among Diet members.
非議員もいない。

Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura, the top spokesman for the new government, is probably unfamiliar to many voters.
内閣の要の藤村修官房長官は多くの有権者にとって「Ｗｈｏ？」だろう。

During the DPJ leadership race, Noda said he would not dissolve the Lower House for a snap election because public support for the DPJ would not rise quickly.
　首相は党代表選のときに「支持率はすぐ上がらない。だから解散はしない」と語っていた。

His Cabinet choices apparently reflect that pledge and that view.
その言葉を政権の布陣でも実証するかのようだ。

This is good news if it represents a first step toward policy formation not governed by short-term political exigencies ahead of elections.
解散風に右往左往する政治を改める一歩になるならば、いいことだ。

THE YOUNG TURKS
■政治改革の９３年組

Noda's second priority was a generational change.
　二つめは世代交代だ。

He is the third youngest postwar prime minister. Five members of his Cabinet are in their 40s.
首相が戦後３番目の若さだし、閣僚には５人の４０歳代を配した。

There is little doubt that he is seeking to put an end to the "troika" DPJ leadership of Ozawa, Yukio Hatoyama and Naoto Kan. The latter two are Noda's immediate predecessors as prime minister.
Noda is clearly trying to give young, up-and-coming lawmakers within the ruling party opportunities to develop their leadership skills.
菅、鳩山、小沢各氏による民主党のトロイカ体制を終わらせ、党を担う人材を育てる狙いも込められているのは明らかだ。

Noda and three other lawmakers who assumed key Cabinet and party posts--Fujimura, Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, and new DPJ policy chief Seiji Maehara--were all elected to the Lower House for the first time in the 1993 election, when the Liberal Democratic Party was ousted from power.
They were all candidates of opposition parties, including the Japan New Party, whose head, Morihiro Hosokawa, was prime minister of a non-LDP coalition government between 1993 and 1994.
This exemplifies the changes now taking place in Japanese politics and is a fresh reminder that the old-fashioned LDP, criticized as money-driven and corrupt, is history.
　そして、首相、外相、官房長官、党政調会長という政権中枢が、いずれも１９９３年の自民党政権崩壊の総選挙に、日本新党などから挑んで初当選した点も時代の変化を象徴する。金権腐敗を指弾された自民党政治の終焉（しゅうえん）を改めて見る思いだ。

Some may worry that these young politicians lack the political skills needed to perform their important jobs.
　政治家としての力量不足を危ぶむ声もあろうが、

However, we welcome their appointments in the expectation that they will mature as politicians with experience.
経験を積むことで成長する期待も込めて、前向きに評価する。

POLICY CONTINUITY

Thirdly, Noda tried to ensure continuity in government policies following the March 11 earthquake and nuclear disaster. He reappointed the ministers in charge of reconstruction and the response to the nuclear crisis.
　三つめは、東日本大震災からの復興と、原発事故対応については担当相を再任し、喫緊の課題で継続性を重視した点だ。

He also assigned the national policy and welfare portfolios, the two key Cabinet posts for integrated tax and social security reform, to the two legislators who have been in charge of the issue within the Cabinet and the ruling party, respectively.
　さらに社会保障と税の一体改革を担う国家戦略相と厚生労働相には、これまで党と内閣で担当してきた政治家を充てた。

This is a reasonable move since this urgent policy issue requires leadership from people who understand their subject.
一から勉強している余裕などないテーマだけに、妥当な人事と言えるだろう。

Noda is the sixth prime minister in five years.
　この５年で、６人目の首相である。

We believe the Diet must regain its ability to build consensus and implement policies so that the new Cabinet can deal effectively with the challenges facing the nation.
私たちは、この新内閣が懸案を処理していくためには、国会が忘れてしまった合意形成の技術を取り戻し、政策を遂行する能力を身につけるしかないと考える。

■なじまぬ「対決型」

Under the so-called 1955 regime, the LDP's virtual monopoly on power in the postwar period, the main opposition Social Democratic Party did not actually seek to take power from the ruling party.
The Socialists did not field a sufficient number of candidates to win a majority in the Lower House.
　かつての５５年体制では、野党第１党の社会党は過半数の候補者を立てず、実質的には政権奪取をめざしていなかった。

The SDP defined its mission as influencing the ruling party's policies through political maneuvering.
　そのぶん、政策で実績をあげることに存在意義を見いだそうとしていた。

Its high-profile stonewalling and boycotting of Diet sessions, with legislators walking at a snail's pace to filibuster initiatives, were designed to attract public attention to certain issues and put pressure on the ruling party to agree to the opposition party's demands.
牛歩戦術や審議拒否といった派手な抵抗は、世論の関心を高め、与党に主張をのませるための策だった。

As a new era of head-on competition for power between the two major parties began, the opposition party started concentrating on efforts to topple the government.
　それが２大政党による政権争奪選挙の時代になると、野党は倒閣にひた走り始めた。

This resulted in chronic partisan bickering, sometimes over surprisingly unimportant issues.
与野党間の政争が日常化し、こんな問題で対決するのかとあきれられる場面が増えた。

Opposition control of the Upper House has jammed the legislative process.
　そして衆参ねじれが、すべてを止めてしまう。

However, we no longer live in an age of ideological confrontation between political parties.
　しかし、イデオロギー対立はとうの昔に終わっている。

Powerful social and economic trends like globalization, low birthrates and the aging of the population impose limits on the scope of policies that can be adopted and the means to achieve political goals.
グローバル化や出生率低下、高齢社会の制約から、動員できる政策の幅は狭まり、手段も限られている。

There is, for instance, no practical way to build new nuclear reactors. All the parties have to acknowledge the fact that the number of reactors in operation will decline in the future.
原発新設の道は事実上閉ざされ、原発が減るのはどの党も認めざるを得ない。

Given this political reality, it is hard to argue that there are unbridgeable differences over key policy issues between the DPJ and the LDP.
　こんな現実を見据えれば、民主、自民両党の立ち位置に抜きがたい違いがあるようには見えない。

There should be more issues on which the two parties can find common ground.
折り合える課題はもっと多いはずだ。

Noda has proposed policy talks between the DPJ, the LDP and New Komeito in three key areas, including integrated tax and social security reform.
　野田首相は、一体改革など三つのテーマについて、民自公３党の協議機関設置を提案した。

The LDP should agree to that proposal.
自民党は応ずるべきだ。

Social security programs like the public pension program cannot be changed easily even if power changes hands. 　年金などの社会保障制度は、政権が交代してもくるくる変えられない。

Raising funds to finance these vital programs is a key policy challenge for both the ruling and opposition parties.
その財源の手当ても与野党共通の重要課題だ。

The ruling and opposition parties should work together in pushing through integrated reform.
だからこそ、与野党が協力して一体改革に取り組んだほうがいい。

This is clearly a time to evolve from a "politics of confrontation" to a "politics of consensus."
　いまこそ、「対決の政治」を「合意の政治」へと進化させる好機なのだ。

THE FUTURE IS IN VOTERS' HANDS
■二重苦の国会で

Under the current political situation, bills cannot be enacted unless they are approved by the opposition parties. Those parties should play the central role in developing this politics of consensus.
　現状では、野党が反対すれば法案は通らないので、「合意の政治」の主役は実は野党だ。

They are sure to win more public support by making sincere efforts to find compromise by putting forth easy-to-understand proposals to revise bills, instead of making unreasonable demands that the ruling party accept their proposals in their entirety.
強引な丸のみを要求せず、わかりやすい修正案を繰り出して真摯（しんし）に妥協を探るなら、きっと野党の側が評価される。

Voters, for their part, need to fairly assess the parties' contributions to the realization of policies and take this into account when deciding how to cast their votes.
　有権者の側も、政党に対する評価の尺度として、政策実現への貢献度をきちんと見極める必要がある。

Currently, there is more serious political confrontation between intraparty groups than between the two major parties.
　いま政治の対立軸は、２大政党の間よりも、むしろそれぞれの党の内側にある。

Both the DPJ and the LDP are deeply split over the issue of tax increases, for instance.
　たとえば、増税政策を巡っては、民主、自民両党ともに容認派と反対派を抱え込んでいる。

Unfortunately for the immediate future of Japanese politics, this is the reality of our two main parties.
The DPJ was united only for the sake of taking power and the LDP was united only for the sake of remaining in power.
これが、政権奪取だけで結束してきた民主党と、政権維持だけで一致してきた自民党という２大政党の悲しい現実だ。

The new Cabinet will likely face a Diet plagued by divided control of its two houses and policy division within its major parties.
　衆参ねじれと、政策ねじれという「二重苦の国会」に、新内閣は船出していく。

If the ruling and opposition parties fail to come to terms, with the prospect of a snap election looming over proceedings, the new Cabinet will collapse before long.
　ますます、解散・総選挙が視野に入ってこざるを得ない国会論戦で、与野党の合意を得られなければ、またしても短期間で沈んでいかざるを得ない。

The fate of the new governments is in the hands of voters.
　この政権の先行きを左右するのは、有権者に違いない。

The question is whether voters will be able to accurately assess the feasibility and credibility of various proposals likely to be made at the Diet, many of which will be aimed at winning votes.
　国会で飛び交うであろう「選挙目当て」の甘言の実現性を確かめ、その信用性を聞き分けるかどうかだ。

It is, after all, the voting public who will change politics.
　政治を変えるのは結局のところ、有権者である。