Comparison between the Russian and Japanese Executive Branches - Essay Example

Comparison between the Russian and Japanese executive branches of the of Introduction In Russia, the head state is the president. This is as per the constitution. He directs Russian policy in the internal arena and internationally. In fact, his position is superior to that of the three parts of the government. Then the government is under the prime minister. The ministries are headed by the prime minister. The cabinet is made up of the premier, his deputies and ministers. It also has some selected individuals. All these people are hired and fired by the president. In Japan, the leader of the executive is the prime minister. He is appointed by the emperor. He can be a civilian. He leads civilian cabinet. The executive is under the Diet. It is evident that the executive arms of Russian and Japanese government are different. The differences are many, starting with the composition and the heads of these arms. This paper is going to look at these differences. It will also look at the similarities where they occur, for similarities are to be found. Russian's Executive Arm of the Government This country got its independence in 1919. This is following the tumbling of the Soviet Union. It was formally called Russian Federation under the Soviet Union. In December of 1993, the presidency was included in constitution. This was during the president of the time, Boris Yelstin. The presidency was handed more powers1 . This constitution directed that the president be the head of the state. The formulation of the policies touching on the position of the government in and out of Russia is under his docket. The president is above the three components of the government2 . He is the one who directs the executive and the other two branches. The other is judiciary and the legislative. He is the chief of state. The powers of the president are so much such that his directives can not be tampered with by the parliament. He recommends on the operations of the government. He has the last word in the nomination of the ministers to the cabinet and the structure of the government. Under the constitution, the president also has the authority to appoint the deputy heads of the government. He does not have to consult the prime minister on these appointments. The resolutions and decrees of the government are at the mercy of the president1. He has the power to nullify these directives. As such, the president heads the executive. The office of the prime minister is simply that of a public officer under the powers of the president. A president is voted for by the citizens2. He goes for a term of four years in the office. He is allowed to be at the same position for two terms. In the constitution, there is no provision for the position of the vice president. In case the presidency falls vacant for any reason (demise, poor health, impeachment or resignation of the incumbent), the prime minister heads the same in an acting capacity. A new election should be conducted in ninety days. There is a board that is formulated to advice the president. It is called the State Council of the State of Russia. Then the president has his support staff. This is the Presidential Administration of Russia.3. It also gives policy support. This body has an additional function of drafting the decrees of the head of state. It coordinates the policy of the government in the agencies. The prime minister is picked by the president4. He is then vetoed by Duma. The latter is the lower house of the parliament. The members are called deputies. He is the leader of government. The president then appoints two first deputies to the prime minister. He does not need consult the prime minister on these appointments. He then appoints several deputy prime ministers. Currently, this country has at least six deputy prime ministers. Under his docket, there are several offices. The first is the cabinet. He is the head of this unit. But the members of the cabinet are picked by the leader of state. The premier with his deputies and the appointees serve in the cabinet. There are at least fifteen ministries in Russia. The prime minister also heads the Public Chamber of Russia. Under him there are also the federal services and the federal agencies. The former are seven while the latter is thirty. These offices, together with the ministry, were introduced under the reforms carried out in 2004. The key officials of this country's executive arm of the government are under one body. This is called the Government of the Russian Federation1. And this government is led by the head of state. The executive in Russia is the one that formulates the country's federal budget. This is then given to the Duma for approval. The government also ensures that it is implemented. It also ensures that the country has one state policy in all its functions. It is also the caretaker of the state property. The security of the state is under this arm of the government. The executive also implements the country's foreign policy. The powers of this arm are given out by the constitution and the president. Japanese' Executive This arm is under the Diet. This is the country's parliament. This is a contradiction to the Russian system where the parliament is under the president. The prime minister is heads this branch. He is appointed by the country's emperor. The latter acts on the directives of the Diet in the appointment2 . The cabinet is contained in the executive. Like in Russia, it is headed by the prime minister. The members of the cabinet are appointees of the prime minister. They have to be from the diet. But the constitution leaves room for the appointment of non-Diet constituents to the cabinet. But all the members must be civilians, just like the prime minister. The premier can fire the members of his cabinet at his discretion. After every four years, there is an election where the citizens pick their emissaries to the house of representative3. The emperor of the country does not have any constitutional powers. The prime minister is a member of the Diet. They then direct the emperor to appoint him. To retain his position, he must seek the support of the House of Representatives. The prime minister is the one controlling and supervising the executive. This is unlike in Russia where this role belonged to the president. After bills are formulated by his cabinet, it is the role of the prime minister to present them to the parliament. The bills vetoed by the parliament, together with the resolutions of the cabinet, have to be signed into law by the premier. If a legal action is needed to be taken against one of his ministers, he is the one who should permit the proceedings. The prime minister is the face of Japan. This is internationally. This is unlike in Russia where the international community has to deal with the country's president. The prime minister also reports to the parliament on the relations as they are locally and internationally. He does this to the parliament. This shows that unlike in Russia where the prime minister was answerable to thee president, the case is different here. He is controlled by the parliament1. The security of the country falls under the prime minister's docket2. He is the country's commander in chief. He oversees the Japanese Self-defense Forces. The premier here is not under the full control of the courts. A court can block a certain act passed by the government. But the premier can override this injunction. But he has to show a reason for this. There is no president in Japan. This is unlike in Russia where the constitution provides for this post. The highest office here is that of the prime minister. It is a very old office in this country's history. It was established in 1885 but has undergone major reforms as the constitution is amended. The prime minister is assisted by a deputy premier. The executive is the strongest component of this government. But its role is not clearly set out in laws. Similarities between the Russian and Japanese Executive Both systems have a prime minister. He is the supervisor of the government in both instances. He is also heading the cabinet. In Russia, the prime minister is under the president while in Japan, he is under the emperor and the parliament. There is a similarity here in the fact that premiers in both governments are under another institution. The prime ministers of both countries are also not voted for by the people. Neither are they appointed at the exclusive wish of the president. That of Russia is by the Duma while that of Japan is by the Diet. This shows that they are appointed by the parliament in both instances. Both are described as leaders of the government. The executive is affected in some way by the electorate in both countries. In Russia, it is through the election of the president. In Japan, it is the voting for the Diet members. There is another similarity here in that there are elections in both countries, albeit for differing reasons. The members elected in both instances are responsible for the selecting premier. The executive in both countries is similar in the fact that both are superior to the other arms of the government. Both systems have a cabinet supervised by premier. Although in Russia the ministries are relatively few than in Japan, it is a fact that they are very important tools of governance in both countries. The executive in both countries have no vice presidents. The head of state of Russia, the president, does not have a deputy. The position is not provided for in the constitution1. Some of the roles of the vice president are relegated to the prime minister. This is when he acts as a helper to the president. Others are relegated to the presidential administration. Still, other roles of the vice president, as is known in other countries, are exercised by the deputy prime ministers. In Japan, there is no vice president as there is no president in the first place2. The roles of this office are distributed to the cabinet. The security organs in both countries fall under the executive. The security chief of Russia reports to the president. The prime minister of Japan is the one in charge of the security forces. He is the chief commander of the country's military3. It is important to note that both countries exercise some form of democracy. The people of Russia elect their president. Japanese elect members of the parliament. The executive of both countries have also undergone major reforms over the years. This has been in line with the changes made to the constitution especially in Russia. There was a referendum here in early 2000's that show the inclusion of the executive presidency in the country's laws. In Japan, that took place in the 1940's. Differences between the Russian Executive and that of Japan There is a considerable difference between the executive of these two countries. It is true that they are the same in some instances but perhaps the differences exceed the similarities. One of the differences is to be found in the institution of the president. In Russia, there is an all powerful president. But this is not the case in Japan. There is no president in Japan. In Japan, there is an emperor while in Russia there is not. This is the one who oversees the government of Japan though his role is ceremonial. He is not voted by the people. The executive in both countries is affected differently by the electorate. In Russia, people elect the president, as earlier indicated, while they elect members of parliament only in Japan. The prime minister of Russia is answerable to the president. That of Japan is responsible to the parliament and to the emperor. The prime minister of both countries is picked by various bodies. In Russia, it is by the Duma while in Japan it is by the Diet. The difference is, in Japan, formal installation of the premier is by the emperor1. The Russian prime minister has several deputies all picked by the president. This is not the case in Japan. The president hires and resigns ministers at his discretion in Russia. But in Japan, this is done by the premier. He is the one who hires and resigns them. The premier of Japan can be impeached. This is by the parliament. The one who can be impeached by parliament in Russia is the head of state. The executive of the Russian government is relatively new. The executive president was established in the early 2000's. The country gained independence in 1991. But in Japan, the post of the premier has been there since the late seventeenth century. In Japan, the head of government is the one who is well known in the international arena. This is because the emperor is just a ceremonial official. The premier is the one who is in charge of foreign policies here. But these roles belong to the president in Russia. Conclusion As shown in this paper, the governments of Japan and Russia exhibit similarities. They both have the three arms of the government found in many countries. There are some similarities also in the way these arms of the government are run. It is also clear that in both instances, the executive is more prominent than the other two. But dissimilarities also occur. Most of the differences are also to be found mainly in the executive arm. As a result, this arm of thee country have received a lot of attention from analysts and policy makers around the world. It is vary vital to know how the executive varies from one country to the other. Bibliography List Medvedev, Boris. Reforms in Russian Executive. Moscow: Putin and Sons, 2002. Wollman, Vladimir. The Local Politics in Russia. Moscow: Kremlin Books, 2004. Malcko, Steiner. Evolution of Government in Japan. New York: London Press, 2005. Suzuki, Maki. Japanese Bureaucratic System. Tokyo: Maruti Books, 2007. Read More