
Japan's DPJ landslide victory - MaysonL
http://www.karelvanwolferen.com/index.php?h=1&s=70&sn=26%20%E2%80%93%20What%20Can%20the%20DPJ%E2%80%99s%20Overwhelming%20V&t=2&v=1&a=1
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radu_floricica
I admit I don't know much about Japan's politics, but isn't an old bureaucracy
made up of professionals better then pure political leadership? In my country
(Romania) we have the other extreme: every public institution has political
leadership, changed every 4 years, up to high-schools. No only the managers
tend to be less prepared, but if you add a bit of corruption, of which we have
in large supply, you end with effectively a market for buying/selling these
position.

I'm not saying this is the case in other democracies, of course, but I do have
a healthy respect for a bureaucracy which discourages promotions based on
political reasons.

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wlievens
It's a balance that constantly shifts, everywhere. On the one hand, we want
professionals (on the condition that they are honest), on the other hand we
want politicians (on the condition that they are competent). Making a certain
function politically controlled isn't necessarily a bad or good thing. On the
one hand, it implies some level of accountability. On the other hand, it
brings along the negatives of politics over professional concerns.

There's probably a paradox in there somewhere, like so many others in
democracy.

