日本政治資金管理制度之研究

Abstract

所謂的民主政治乃基於人民主權之原理，透過選舉制度選出代表，組成國會，而具有民意基礎的議會代表則透過議會運作推動國家政治。對於將主權交由國會代表來表達政治意願的人民而言，民意代表必須是值得信賴，且能確切表達民意的。換言之，國會之運作因基於民意而為，故所有的政治活動應是公開、公正且能為人民所監督批判的，才能符合真正的民主制度。然而政治家與金錢的曖昧關係所引發的政治獻金問題，因金錢流向的不透明，政治資金管理制度不健全，常造成社會爭議，且在政治運作中為人民所詬病。

為了避免政治家與企業或利益團體勾結，抑制金錢造成的政治腐敗，確保選舉與政治活動之淨化，日本以美國的「腐敗行為防止法」(Federal Corrupt Practices Act)為範本，於1948年公布了「政治資金規正法」，作為政治資金管理規範之依據。然而由於結構性的貪污，既使制定了政治資金規正法，日本在政治獻金方面的弊端仍層出不窮。

政治資金規正法之制定、實施，以及多次的修正，何以仍無法根絕日本層出不窮的政治獻金問題？本文欲透過對日本政治資金規正法之制定與發展過程之探究，理解日本政治資金管理制度之實態與問題點，並透過政治資金規正制度之探討，掌握日本政治資金管理制度之實態，並對現存制度提出幾項疑問與建議。The so-called democracy is to form the congress by the elected representatives through the electoral system based on the principles of sovereignty of the people, and the representatives to promote the politics of the nation thru the operation of the congress. For the people who want to show their political willingness thru the elected representative, the elected officials must be trustworthy and be able to precisely express the public opinion. In other words, since the operation of the congress is based on the public opinion, all political activities should be open, fair and monitored by the people so as to be a genuine democratic system. However, the disputes on political contribution caused by the non-transparent financial flow, unsound political fund management system in-between the ambiguous relationship between politicians and political contribution have always been criticized by the people.

To avoid collusion between politicians and enterprises or any interest parties, to prohibit the political corruption caused by money, and to ensure clean elections and political activities, Japan published “Political Fund Control Law" in 1948 based on the U.S. “Federal Corrupt Practices Act” to provide for the laws and regulations for the political contribution management. However, there are still many corrupt practices in Japan’s political contribution due to structural issues even with the enactment of Political Fund Control Law.

Why can’t Japan eradicate the endless political contribution issues even with the enactment, implementation and many-time amendments of Political Fund Control Law? This thesis would raise some questions and propose recommendations for the existing system of Japanese political fund management thru the study on the current status and issues of Japan’s political fund management system by probing the enactment and development process of its Political Fund Control Law.