Interests - RIKEN

This refers to rights and interests that businesses acquire through formal procedures in collusion with government officials (including politicians and special public officials) in appropriate positions in the government and public institutions. Usually, these rights and interests are established as counter-payments by bureaucrats and politicians who supervise and guide bureaucrats, who have the power to propose laws, decide on budgets, collect and supervise, supervise and supervise administration, grant licenses and permits, place orders, and police and prosecutorial powers, in return for money, gifts, entertainment, and status provided by businesses. In Japan, before the Second World War, under the pre-modern bureaucracy, where the view that public office is a private right was strong, there were many cases of corruption, large and small, involving various types of interests. Even after the war, this tendency was not completely eradicated, and administrative power expanded its control in line with the trend of Keynesian world capitalism. As socio-economic activities became increasingly dependent on the state and public finances, various types of corruption by bureaucrats and politicians over the expanded and increased interests became frequent.

In the United States, the spoils system surrounding the spoils system was famous in the past, and after the war, there has been a never-ending stream of problems with vested interests, such as the "military industrial complex" that is linked to collusion between the defense industry and the Pentagon, which places orders for this, but at the same time, self-cleaning mechanisms that check these problems are also functioning actively. In Japan, on the other hand, the self-cleaning mechanism that checks direct vested interests in the ordering of public works projects, subsidies, and the sale of national and public property by bureaucratic organizations that tend to be in collusion with extremely long-term governments, as well as indirect vested interests in preferential tax treatment for corporations, is weak.

In addition, in Japan's political climate and system, where there is no change in power between the ruling and opposition parties for a long time, and where political activities require a large amount of funding, a network of vested interests, including high-ranking bureaucrats, industries, academic societies, etc., centered around so-called "tribal politicians" who are familiar with the policies of specific ministries and agencies and who represent the industries and companies that benefit from those policies, is firmly embedded in the social fabric. These structural vested interests range from vested interests in infrastructure development such as railways, aviation, forests, roads, ports, dams, rivers, water and sewage systems, which are social infrastructure, depending on the composition policy of the national and public budgets, to the birth of vested interests through the emergence of new businesses under various regulations (said to be more than 12,000) such as the authorization authority and guidance and supervision authority of all public agencies, such as finance, securities, medical care and pharmaceuticals, nursing care, food and beverages, and environmental purification. In order to nip these vested interests in the bud, the public needs to take a greater interest in politics and administration.

[Tetsuro Murofushi]

"High-ranking bureaucrats" by Tetsuro Murofushi (Kodansha Bunko)" ▽ "The logic of giving and the logic of receiving - The Japanese climate that gives rise to suspicion" by Tetsuro Murofushi (Chikuma Bunko)

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

業者が政府および公共機関のしかるべき地位にある公務員（政治家、特別公務員も含む）と結託して、形式的には公的手続によって獲得する権益をいう。通常、業者が提供する金品、供応、地位などに対し、法律発案権、予算決定権、徴収監察権、管理監督・行政指導権、許認可権、発注権、警察・検察権などを占有する権限をもつ官僚および官僚を監督指導する政治家の反対給付として成立する。日本では、第二次世界大戦前、官職を私的権利とみなす公職私有観が強かった前近代的な官僚制の下で、各種利権をめぐる大小の汚職事件が少なくなかった。戦後も、この傾向が完全には払拭(ふっしょく)されないまま、さらにケインズ流の世界資本主義の趨勢(すうせい)に歩調をあわせて、行政権が統制力を拡大した。そして、社会経済活動が国家・公共財政機能に依存する比重が著しく大きくなるにつれ、拡張増大された利権をめぐる、官僚・政治家の各種汚職行為が頻発してきた。

　アメリカでも、古くは猟官運動をめぐるスポイルズ・システム（猟官制）が有名であったし、戦後は、軍需産業とこれを発注するペンタゴン（国防総省）の癒着に絡む「ミリタリー・インダストリアル・コンプレックス」（軍産複合体）などの利権問題も後を絶たないが、これをチェックする自浄機構も同時に活発に機能している。その点、わが国では、超長期政権と癒着しがちの官僚機構の公共事業等発注、補助金交付、国・公有財産払下げなどをめぐる直接的な、および企業の優遇税制などに絡む間接的な利権行為をチェックする自浄機能は弱い。

　また、与野党の政権交代のない長期保守政権、および政治活動に多額の資金を要する日本の政治風土とそのシステムのなかでは、特定の省庁の政策に詳しく、その政策により利益を得る業界や企業を代弁するいわゆる族議員を中核とした高級官僚、業界、学会などを含む利権のネットワークが社会組織に牢乎(ろうこ)として組み込まれている。この構造的利権は、国家、公共予算の編成方針によって社会的基盤である鉄道、航空、山林、道路、港湾、ダム、河川、上下水道などのインフラ整備による利権から、金融、証券、医療・医薬品、介護、食品・飲料、環境浄化など、すべての官公庁のもつ許認可権や指導・監督権などの各種規制（約1万2000件以上あるとされる）の下に、新たなビジネスの発生による利権の誕生にもつながるのである。こうした利権の芽を断つには国民のよりいっそうの政治、行政への関心が望まれる。

［室伏哲郎］

『室伏哲郎著『高級官僚』（講談社文庫）』▽『室伏哲郎著『贈る論理贈られる論理――疑獄を生み出す日本的風土』（ちくま文庫）』

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