IZUMO AKIKO    Department   Professional Graduate School  , Graduate School of Governance Studies    Position   Professor
Research Period	2009～2010
Research Topic	The Political Appointment System and the Relationship between Politics and Administration in the Civil Service from Comparative Perspective
Research Type	KAKENHI Research
Consignor	Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
Research Program Type	Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
KAKENHI Grant No.	21730124
Responsibility	Representative Researcher
Representative Person	IZUMO Akiko
Details	The concept of political appointment has been diverted among countries, but it is a surely perceptive to see a relationship between politics and administration. This research defines the concept of political appointment in the United States and France analyzing the extent of the statutory and practical regulations to the appointment. The political appointment literally means that officials are appointed only because of political loyalty to the appointing officer without regulations. In this research, it is revealed that these pure kinds of appointment are rather exception in two countries, and there are the mechanisms to regulate the appointment. The mechanism differs in these two, but there are some similarities in the followings: the approval by the congress, qualitative and quantitative regulation by the central personnel management institution, and practical regulation by bureaucratic network. The concept of political appointment is layered along with the regulation shading, and this definition suggests the issues of the civil service reform in Japan.