This book, a comparative study of legislative systems primarily undertaken by the US Association of Former Members of Congress and the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE), devotes its first six chapters to the Japanese Diet and its latter six to the US Congress.
The initial chapters of the Japan and US sections explain the histories of the bicameral legislatures and the two nation’s constitutional structures. Subsequent chapters cover organizational specifics and power distribution, law-making and political parties, election procedures and elected members’ duties, budgetary and other financial policies, as well as defense, trade, and foreign affairs. An extensive Index duplicates main entries such as the “Budgetary process” and “House of Representatives” for ease of referencing the same topic in either the six Diet-related chapters or those on the Congress. Contains five tables and two figures.
Contents
- 1. The Diet in the Japanese Political System
- Kan Ori, Professor of Political Science, Sophia University
- 2. Political Parties and the Diet
- Hiroshi Yamato, Assistant to a Diet member
- 3. Diet Structure, Organization, and Procedures
- Koichi Kishimoto, Editor, Jiji Press
- 4. Diet Members
- Shoichi Izumi, National Diet Library
- 5. The Diet and the Bureaucracy: The Budget as a Case Study
- Koji Kakizawa, Member of the Diet
- 6. The Role of the Diet in Foreign Policy and Defense
- Shuzo Kimura, Senior Researcher, Committee on Foreign Affairs, House of Councillors
- 7. Congress in the US Political System
- James L. Sundquist, The Brookings Institution
- 8. The US Congress: Structure, Party Organization, and Leadership
- Robert L. Peabody, Professor, Department of Political Science, John Hopkins University
- 9. The Making of a Law: The US Legislative Process
- Ralph D. Nurnberger, Georgetown Center for Strategic Studies
- 10. The Member of the US Congress
- Susan Webb Hammond, Professor, Department of Political Science, The American University
- 11. The US Congress in Budgeting and Finance
- Joel Havemann, National Journal
- 12. The US Congress in Foreign Relations, Trade, and Defense
- Charles E. Morrison, Fellow, Culture Learning Institute, East-West Center
