Dynamics of Three Structures of Responsibiliy in Education under the New Basic Law of Education

Abstract

In 2006, the Diet passed the Bill on the Revision of the Basic Law of Education (BLE) of 1947. The revision was so comprehensive that the revised law can be labeled as the new BLE. The aims of this paper are twofold. The first goal is to clarify the characteristics of three different types of structures of responsibility that have taken root: the first type was the result of the former BLE; the second type was inherent to the legal system on education as developed by the LDP and the Ministry of Education; and the third type of responsibility structure was developed under the new BLE of 2006. This paper analyzes each of the structures of responsibility from a different perspective: first as a “direct responsibility to the people,” then as an “indirect responsibility to the bureaucratic control by the Ministry of Education,” and finally as “accountability to the Cabinet.” The second goal of this article is to analyze the political dynamics among the three structures of responsibility that led from the former BLE to the reform of 2006. This paper shows that the structure of direct responsibility actually sets limits on the incorporation of the structure of accountability into the new BLE, silently but substantially, and, as the structure of accountability absorbs the structure of indirect responsibility, the struggles are now gradually shifting from the three structures to the structure of accountability and the structure of direct responsibility.