The Civil Service System and Economic Development · the Japanese Experience · Report on an International Colloquium Held in Tokyo, March 22-25, 1994

This report is a result of the colloquium, " The Civil Service and Economic Development: The Japanese Experience. " The colloquium ' s objectives were to learn more about the Japanese civil service system, to compare it with other countries, and to draw some lessons for the developing and transition economies. The colloquium also evaluated examples of successful practices and lessons learned from civil service reform efforts in other countries. Chapter 2 provides an overview of the colloquium, with first a general discussion of civil service structural elements and the civil service ' s potential role in the economic development process. This is followed by a detailed look at the Japanese experience of building and maintaining a competent bureaucracy, and an appraisal of civil service ' s role in the process of the country ' s economic development. Chapters 3 and 4 provide two divergent perspectives on the Japanese bureaucracy by key participants from within the system.