With the increasing globalization of politics, culture, and the law,
the scope of sovereignty has narrowed. Over time, people became
increasingly indifferent to politics. Thus, direct democracy may be a
good method for connecting voters with politics. Popular sovereignty
is the principle that authority and power reside with the people.
Legitimacy is given to representatives who are expected to work for all
of the people once elected. Representatives are expected to reflect the
peoples’ diverse perspectives in the parliament and integrate them into
the law. Japanese constitutional studies examine how to assure that the
people’s diverse voice reaches the parliament and how to allocate the
parliamentary seats to adequately reflect the people’s vote. When the
Japanese Constitution was established, it cemented constituent power
as the power to amend, meaning it can be activated only when the
people amend the constitution directly. However, the Constitution
provided a few exceptions such as power to amend the constitution and
power to enact special laws applicable to the local governments.
Mostly, however, only representatives actively participate in politics.