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local level. They are vertical separation of power between the national and sub-
national or local governments and horizontal separation of power within the
same level of government.

ertical e aration of Power and ystems of ocal o ernment
and Democracy

In most countries there are national as well as local governments. In a
federal government system country, there exists what is called sub-national
government such as “State” in the USA and “Land” in Germany. They share the
state power with the federal government and have a wide range of
responsibility of government. They are not regarded as the same as local
governments in a unitary system country. Since sub-national and local
governments are closer to the people, various direct democratic systems have
been adopted at the sub-national and local government level. And local
autonomy or local government is often referred to as “the school of democracy”.

a anese ystem of ertical e aration of Power ocal
o ernment and Democracy

Even though Japan is a unitary system country, local governments in
Japan play a very large role in almost all areas except national defense and
diplomacy, as big as that of sub-national and local governments in a federal
government system country. The relative size of work force is one of indicators
which show the importance of local governments in Japan. With 127 million
population of the country, the number of full time employees of local
governments in Japan is 2.75 million, while that of the national government is
0.64 million. Performance of local governments considerably affects the daily
lives of the people.

The Constitution of Japan includes one chapter on local self-government
เอกสารประกอบการอภิปรายร่วมระหว่างผู้แทนจากต่างประเทศ
which provides the basis for local autonomy. Japan has a two-tier local
government system; 47 prefectures and 1718 municipalities (cities, towns and
villages) at present.

Each local government has the chief executive (governor for prefecture
and mayor for municipality) and the local assembly. Chief executives and
members of local assemblies are elected directly by the residents for re-eligible
four year term. Every resident of 20 years old or older has a right to vote.
While check and balance systems exists between the chief executive and the
local assembly, there are various systems for auditing and “direct democracy”.
In addition to the election of the chief executive and members of local
assemblies by residents, there are various systems for “direct democracy” by