Politics of Representation and Politics of Governance
In Hiroki Azuma's "General Will 2.0", the first half of the article argues for "Algorithm Governance Based on Big Data", which is similar to Yusuke Narita's "Can We Utilize 'Unconsciousness' and 'Data' for the Update of Democracy?". However, it seems that Hiroki Azuma eventually changed his position to say that it is not like that. As he wrote, he became increasingly concerned that calling such a dangerous thing a vision of new democracy might not be a good idea. As a result, the ambiguous conclusion was reached that both a database and deliberation are necessary. Shigeki Uno's "What is Democracy" emphasizes the importance of "Execution rights and administration", which seems to have been influenced by Pierre Rosanvallon's "Good governance".
According to Hiroki Azuma, when discussing democracy, it is not enough to only talk about the will of the people. It is necessary to consider the issues of governance that become apparent after that. This is what Foucault refers to as "Governability".
Furthermore, in Rousseau's "Social contract theory", the discussion of the general will is only at the beginning, and the rest of the theory focuses on the legislator and the form of government. Shigeki Uno agrees with this interpretation. He states that the first and second parts of "Social contract theory" end with the idea that laws must be based on the general will, but in the third part, the discussion shifts to the form of government. This means that popular sovereignty and the form of government are separate.
The distinction between the Politics of Representation and the Politics of Governance is highlighted as "Surface politics and governance politics". While liberals tend to focus on the Politics of Representation, there is a need to delve into the concrete aspects of Politics of Governance. Hiroki Azuma points out that liberals are currently discussing the representation of various minorities' suffering and dissatisfaction, but it is not clear if this will solve the problems. Therefore, a separate discussion on Governance technology is necessary. According to Junichi Ueno, Political Science should intervene in this discussion, but it has mainly focused on the Legislative Power. The discussion has been limited to aggregating the diverse interests of the people, representing them through elections, and making laws in parliament. As a result, it has become a discussion of political leadership, suppressing and controlling bureaucrats. Hiroki Azuma also notes that modern political thought, not only in Japan but also globally, seems to be primarily concerned with the "voice" being "represented" and "manifested".
The history of democratic institutional theory is relatively shallow. Rousseau's discussion on government becomes vague, and the American Federalist, while developing a detailed institutional theory, ultimately leans towards elite rule based on the knowledge of the public interest. The discussion on the Representative system, initiated by J.S. Mill and Walter Bagehot in the 1860s, has not been significantly updated since then. The issues regarding the relationship between the legislature and the executive power, as well as the relationship between politicians and bureaucrats, have been left unaddressed. It is time to consider mechanisms that allow the public to directly check the executive power and ensure "good governance".
The discussion then shifts to the extent of state intervention. Should the state aggregate personal information? Hiroki Azuma asks if there are any specific examples, to which Junichi Ueno responds that he thinks Taiwan is a model. In Taiwan, there is a system where citizens can raise legislative issues by posting their thoughts on social media and receiving a certain number of likes. There are also efforts to directly raise issues to the executive power and check their actions. Previously, vTaiwan was only seen in the context of Civic Tech, but it is now seen as connected to the challenges of governance. Lastly, it is important to note that democracy is an ongoing process and is far from being complete. Despite this, there are many people who claim that democracy is not good or that it has limitations. cameturtle on July 12, 2022, tweeted about this issue, emphasizing that democracy never ends and is always in progress.