Guide to Citizens’ Rights and Responsibilities

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5
J a m a i c a
per capita: for each person, especially for
each person living in an area or country
authoritarianism: the domination of the
state or its leader over individuals
■ ■ ■  

Seaga. Throughout the 1990s Seaga faced internal threats to his dominance
of the party and was able to defeat them all, though at a cost. In part, the
price was the loss of some of the most experienced and respected cadres
along with their support base. The most outstanding case was that of Deputy
Leader Bruce Golding (b. 1947), who left the party to form the National
Democratic Movement (NDM) in 1996. Without winning any seats, the NDM
contested the 1997 and 2002 elections. However, many felt that it was able to
siphon off sufficient votes from the JLP to allow for two PNP victories. After
the 2002 elections, Golding returned to the JLP, although it was still led by
Edward Seaga.
T H E   F U T U R E
As of early 2005, Jamaican politics were poised at a moment of succession.
P. J. Patterson indicated that he would retire before the next general election in
2007. Bruce Golding, after a difficult transition period, had finally taken over
from Edward Seaga as leader of the JLP. 
Beyond this, the main debates in politics centered on ways to reform the
more-than-forty-year-old constitution. Efforts were in train to make Jamaica
a
republic
and end the archaic, though largely ceremonial relationship with
the British Crown. There also was a desire to strengthen checks and balances
through the introduction of a presidential type system, though there was no
indication of a national consensus on this. There also were strong debates
around the character and practice of the judicial system. The Caribbean
Court of Justice (CCJ), a multinational court for the countries of the
Anglophone Caribbean, which is to replace the British Privy Council as the
final court of appeal, was soon to be launched. In early 2005, the Privy
Council itself judged that the final 
appellate
functions of the court could not
be made legal unless they were deeply entrenched, requiring, at minimum,
a consensus between the government and opposition parties. Unless such
a consensus is forged, the matter might have to be taken to a national refer-
endum. Other legal issues surrounded the slow and encumbered functioning
of the judicial system and continued attempts to hold the police legally
6
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
J a m a i c a
republic: a form of democratic government
in which decisions are made by elected repre-
sentatives of the people
■ ■ ■  
T H E   C A R I B B E A N   C O U R T   O F   J U S T I C E
The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) is a regional judicial
body that replaced the Judicial Committee of the British Privy
Council as a court of last resort for the member states of the
Caribbean Community and the Common Market (CARICOM).
The creation of a Caribbean court of appeal was first proposed
in 1970 and received further support when the Treaty of
Chaguaramas established CARICOM in 1973. After an agree-
ment to form the CCJ was ratified by thirteen Caribbean states
in 2002, the Court was formally inaugurated on April 16, 2005.
Nations participating in the CCJ include Antigua–Barbuda,
Barbados, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica,
Montserrat, St. Kitts–Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Suriname, and
Trinidad and Tobago. The seat of the CCJ is in Port-of-Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago; however, the Court may sit in the territory
of any member state.
The CCJ is unique among international courts in that it is a
hybrid court; that is, it serves as an original court to settle dis-
putes related to applications of the CARICOM treaty as well as
an appellate court in civil and criminal matters. The Court’s
hybrid structure is expected to improve the administration of jus-
tice in the Caribbean countries by reinforcing their independ-
ence from the British legal system as well as reducing distance
and travel costs.
■ ■ ■
appellate: a court having jurisdiction to
review the findings of lower courts

accountable in instances of alleged extrajudicial killings. The question of how
to combat corruption—particularly drug-related corruption—remained high
on the national agenda.
In the economy, the primary issue, and indeed the dominant one for the
past three decades, remained the fraught and elusive objective of initiating
a path of economic growth with a degree of equity that would allow a modicum
of prosperity for the majority of the population.
See also: 
Caribbean Region; Constitutional Monarchy; Democracy;
Parliamentary Systems.
B I B L I O G R A P H Y
Combating Corruption in Jamaica: A Citizen’s Guide. Atlanta, GA: The Carter
Center, 1999.
Economic and Social Survey of Jamaica, 2003. Kingston, Jamaica: Planning Institute of
Jamaica, 2004.
Figueroa, Mark, and Amanda Sives. “Homogenous Voting, Electoral Manipulation and the
‘Garrison’ Process in Post-Independence Jamaica.” Journal of Commonwealth and
Comparative Politics 40, no. 1 (March 2002).
Henke, Holger. Between Self-Determination and Dependency: Jamaica’s Foreign
Relations 1972–1989. Barbados: The University of the West Indies Press, 2000.
Human Development Report 2003. New York and Oxford, UK: United Nations
Development Programme and Oxford University Press, 2003.
The Jamaica (Constitution) Order in Council 1962. Kingston, Jamaica: The Jamaica
Observer, 1999.
Jamaica: Killings and Violence by Police: How Many More Victims?. London: Amnesty
International, 2001.
Manley, Michael. Jamaica: Struggle in the Periphery. London: Third World Media in
Association with Writers and Readers Publishing Cooperative Society, 1982.
Munroe, Trevor. The Politics of Constitutional Decolonization: Jamaica 1944 –1962.
Kingston, Jamaica: Institute of Social and Economic Research, 1983.
Munroe, Trevor. Renewing Democracy into the Millennium: The Jamaican Experience
in Perspective. Barbados: The Press University of the West Indies, 1999.
Payne, Anthony. Politics in Jamaica, revised ed. Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle
Publishers, 1994.
Post, Ken. Arise Ye Starvelings: The Jamaican Labor Rebellion of 1938 and its Aftermath.
The Hague, the Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff, 1978.
Senior, Olive. Encyclopedia of Jamaican Heritage. Red Hills, Jamaica: Twin Guinep
Publishers, 2003.
Sherlock, Philip, and Hazel Bennett. The Story of the Jamaican People. Princeton, NJ:
Marcus Wiener Publishers, 1998.
Stephens, Evelyne Huber, and John D. Stephens. Democratic Socialism in
Jamaica: The Political Movement and Social Transformation in Dependent
Capitalism. Houndmills, UK: Macmillan, 1986.
Stone, Carl. Democracy and Clientelism in Jamaica. New York: Transaction Books,
1983.
Brian W. Meeks
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J a m a i c a

Japan
Japan is a fascinating country rich in history, culture, and tradition. Formed
from a scenic chain of volcanic islands off the coast of Asia, Japan is roughly the
size of the U.S. state of California. Because of its mountainous terrain, most of
Japan’s approximately 128 million residents live along the coast, particularly in
the urban corridor between Tokyo and Kobe, where 45 percent of the popula-
tion is packed into 17 percent of the land area.
Japan stands as a modern industrial, economic, and political superpower. Its
rapid ascension to power, including its recovery from the ashes of World War II
(1939–1945), provides one of the twentieth century’s most remarkable stories.
Consequently, the Japanese enjoy a high standard of living and amenities typical
of first-world nations. Japan’s per capita gross domestic product dwarfs most
other nations, and its economy ranks among the top three countries in the
world. Japan’s prosperity has thwarted major crime and contributed to long
life expectancies. One major obstacle facing Japan is a rapidly aging population.
By 2030, 28 percent of Japan’s population is expected to be sixty-five years of age
or older. The Japanese also benefit from extensive freedoms and fundamental
rights. Their political and civil rights have consistently ranked near the top of
advanced industrial societies.
H I S T O R I C A L   D E V E L O P M E N T   O F   L AW   A N D   G O V E R N M E N T
The story of Japan and its government extends well beyond the past century.
Japan’s government is traceable to the Shinto legend recorded in the Chronicles
of Japan (Nihon Shoki) and Record of Ancient Things (Kojiki). Authored around
C
.
E
. 720, these records mythically describe how two Shinto deities, Izanagi and
Izanami, dipped their Heavenly Jeweled Spear into the sea to create Onokorojima
Isle and then descended on the island to create the other Japanese islands. One
of their descendants, Ninigi no Mikoto, was later bestowed with the sovereign
right to rule Japan as represented by the Imperial Regalia (sacred mirror, stone,
and jewels). The Regalia were ultimately conferred on Jimmu Tenno, Japan’s first
emperor, and subsequently passed down to each emperor in an unbroken chain.
Separating reality from myth may prove difficult, but it is not difficult to recognize
Japan’s unbroken history or the profound influence of Shintoism and other reli-
gious tenets on Japanese law and government.
Prior to the mid-nineteenth century, shoguns and daimyo lords ruled Japan
in loose feudal arrangements. The emperor symbolically stood in the background
as the divine head of government, while the shoguns and daimyo ruled within
a “loyalty pyramid” consisting of subject, emperor, and the family patriarch, village
head, daimyo, or shogun. This governance system was 
decentralized
, but the
central government exercised power over the local units when necessary.
The first political revolution in Japan’s law and government began in 1853
when Commodore Matthew Perry’s (1794–1858) black warships arrived from the
United States and forced Japan to open its shuttered society. This foreign interven-
tion and the desire to combat further intrusion enabled the Meiji (“enlightened
ones”)
oligarchy
to take control of Japan and form a centralized government, thus
shifting power from the shoguns to the emperor. By 1868, the Meiji government
had enacted a constitution. By 1900, the legal system had been further revolution-
ized through the creation of a parliament and comprehensive system of European-
style administrative, commercial, and civil codes. This political revolution not only
propelled Japan’s rapid 
modernization
, but it also cultivated its 
militarism
and
conquest of Asia and the Pacific before the end of World War II.
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J a p a n
oligarchy: government by a few or an elite
ruling class, whose policies are often not in
the public interest
modernization: the act of incorporating new
ideas or technology
militarism: pertaining to the military or the
culture of the military, or aggressive military
preparation
decentralize: to move power from a central
authority to multiple periphery government
branches or agencies
■ ■ ■  

S T R U C T U R E   O F   L AW   A N D   G O V E R N M E N T   I N   J A PA N
Disillusioned and industrially obliterated after World War II, Japan faced
its second political revolution at the hands of the Supreme Commander of
the Allied Powers (SCAP). Directed by the United States, SCAP set about
democratizing and demilitarizing Japan through a new constitution and mod-
ified legal code system. SCAP drafted a new constitution modeled after the
U.S. version, only with greater rights and powers. The new Constitution of
Japan was 
promulgated
on November 3, 1946, and took effect on May 3, 1947.
By its own terms, the constitution is the supreme law of Japan. Reflecting the
desires of the Japanese people and its U.S. drafters, the constitution focuses on
democratic concepts such as popular sovereignty, separation of powers, respect
for fundamental human rights, a parliamentary legislature, and an authoritative
judiciary. It also promotes 
pacifism
and peace through a “renunciation of war”
clause. Ironically, this clause has engendered much debate and contention 
within Japan that continued into the early twenty-first century. Nonetheless, the
constitution has never been amended, and its revolutionary changes have facili-
tated great peace and prosperity in Japan.
The constitution bases the government on a ceremonial emperor and three
equal branches of government: legislative, executive, and judicial. Unlike the
Meiji constitution, which recognized the 
absolute
power of the emperor, the new
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9
J a p a n
promulgation: an official declaration, espe-
cially that a law can start being enforced
■ ■ ■  
pacifism: the belief that war and violence are
inferior methods of conflict resolution, to be
avoided
absolute: complete, pure, free from restric-
tion or limitation
Mt. Fuji
12,388 ft.
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          P A C I F I C  
O C E A N
East
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Tokyo
Osaka
NORTH
KOREA
C H I N A
SOUTH
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JAPAN
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(MAP BY MARYLAND CARTOGRAPHICS/ THE GALE GROUP)

constitution sets forth a limited constitutional monarchy with a representative
parliament. Under the constitution, the emperor stands as the “symbol of the
State and unity of the people” (Office of the Prime Minister, n.d., Article 1) and
attends to various ceremonial duties. Emperor Akihito (b. 1933) assumed the
throne as the 125th Emperor of Japan on January 7, 1989. He does not wield
significant political influence or legal power, however.
Legislative authority is vested in the diet, which serves as the highest and
only lawmaking body of the state. The diet is a bicameral parliamentary body
elected directly by voters who are at least twenty years old. Comprised of the
House of Representatives (Lower House) and House of Councillors (Upper
House), the diet proposes, debates, and enacts legislation. The Lower House
consists of 480 members serving four-year terms (absent prior dissolution), of
which 300 members represent single-seat constituencies and 180 members
represent proportionate regional 
blocs
. The Upper House consists of 247 mem-
bers serving six-year terms, of which 149 members represent multiseat con-
stituencies and 98 represent proportional constituencies. Half of the Upper
House faces election every three years.
The diet convenes 150-day ordinary sessions unless extended by vote or
called into extraordinary session by the cabinet. In addition to legislating, the
diet approves the national budget, ratifies treaties, and initiates constitutional
amendments. Although both houses theoretically share equal power, the Lower
House holds veto power over the Upper House in disagreements about legisla-
tion, treaties, and designation of the prime minister. This has led some com-
mentators to recommend abandoning the Upper House.
Executive power is vested in the cabinet pursuant to the constitution. The
prime minister and other ministers of state constitute the cabinet. The diet des-
ignates the prime minister based on the consensus of the diet’s majority party
or ruling coalition. The prime minister is charged with submitting legislation,
reporting national and international affairs to the diet, and overseeing the
administrative branches. As of July 2004, Junichiro Koizumi ( b. 1942) had served
for over three years as prime minister and president of the Liberal Democratic
Party (LDP), the largest party in the ruling coalition.
The prime minister appoints and dismisses ministers of state, with the caveat
that the majority of the ministers must come from the diet. In January 2001, the
existing ministries and ministry-level agencies were consolidated into twelve
organizations. Each ministry has one minister, two senior vice ministers, and
three parliamentary secretaries, many of whom also serve as diet members. In
2001, the Cabinet Office was also created to oversee cabinet plans and provide
comprehensive policy coordination, particularly in the areas of economics,
science and technology, central disaster management, and gender equality.
The cabinet has traditionally possessed exceptional power. The cabinet
issues regulations and orders that apply to laws passed by the diet. The cabinet
also drafts legislation, prepares the national budget, and manages domestic and
external affairs. To effectively fulfill its duties, the cabinet 
delegates
many tasks
to various underlying administrative organs and committees within the central
government. These administrative arms comprise the bureaucracy.
Japan is notorious for its strong bureaucracy. With their technical expertise and
access to vital information, Japanese bureaucrats have held enormous power over
the past fifty years, particularly compared to civil servants in other democratic
countries. Bureaucrats are selected based on national public servant examinations.
Prestige and stability draw many of the brightest minds into the bureaucracy.
Dating back to the Meiji period, the bureaucrats have maintained a sense of
10
G O V E R N M E N T S   O F   T H E   W O R L D
J a p a n
bloc: a group of countries or individuals
working toward a common goal, usually
within a convention or other political body
■ ■ ■  
delegate: to assign power to another, or, one
who represents another

confidence, power, and importance in society. They tend to serve the govern-
ment’s interests as opposed to the will of the people. Bureaucratic positions are
not political appointments. In fact, stringent civil service laws and traditions against
political interference generally protect bureaucrats. At the end of fiscal 2002, about
1.1 million national public servants worked in the central government.
The bureaucracy often exercises its power over private entities through
informal administrative guidance or gyosei shido. Informal guidance can take
the form of instructions, warnings, cautions, recommendations, requests, or
advice. In strict legal terms, the private party receiving the administrative guid-
ance cannot be compelled to abide by this guidance. Compliance is voluntary,
but failure to comply could result in import quotas on necessary materials, the
denial of government financing, restrictions on construction permits and city
services, or similar restrictions.
The bureaucracy continued to maintain significant control in the early
twenty-first century. However, a stagnant economy and electoral volatility
produced uncertainty and a sense that policy-making processes require
reform. Also, the bureaucracy’s competent and incorruptible image had been
irreparably damaged since the early 1990s because of policy failures, bureau-
cratic scandals involving kickbacks, and public health fiascos related to HIV-
tainted blood and mad-cow disease.
The judicial system is modeled primarily after the German and French civil
code systems. The major laws are compiled into a six-volume collection known as
the Roppo Zensho. These laws include the constitution and civil, commercial, and
criminal codes, as well as codes of civil and criminal procedure. Japanese attor-
neys rely on the codes to analyze and respond to legal issues. Notwithstanding
these codes, Japan does maintain a distinct common-law influence in its law
and court system as a result of the U.S.-drafted constitution and the influence of
U.S. law on the judicial system.
The court system is responsible for reviewing civil, administrative, and crimi-
nal disputes. Although Japanese courts may review the constitutionality of
legislative acts, proactive remedies are rarely granted even when a 
statute
is
deemed unconstitutional. Generally, litigants have access to an initial trial and two
possible appeals within the five-tier court structure. The number of courts at each
level is as follows: summary courts (575), family courts (50), district courts (50),
high courts (8), and the Supreme Court. The summary and family courts are lim-
ited to small claims and family matters, respectively. The Supreme Court is the
court of last resort. Fifteen justices sit on the Supreme Court, ten of whom must
be judges, prosecutors, lawyers, or law professors. The remaining five judges need
not be 
jurists
. The chief justice is designated by the cabinet and appointed by the
emperor. This gives prestige to the judiciary that is comparable to the other
branches of government. It is important to note that, unlike the federal and state
court systems in the United States, Japan maintains a single national court system.
Litigation
rates are relatively low in Japan in part due to an undersized pool of
judges and trial attorneys. As of April 2003, there were approximately 3,139 judges
and assistant judges. Before 2004, only 1,200 applicants passed the national bar
examination each year (for a passage rate of 3%). The lack of judges and lawyers
causes significant court backlogs and hinders litigants seeking to enforce their rights.