The National Institute for Research Advancement (NIRA), an independent policy research body established in March 1974 under the initiative of leading figures from Japan's industrial, academic and labor communities, has put forth various proposals that contribute to the policy formulation process. In celebration of NIRA's 30th anniversary, a series of activities to commemorate this special occasion will be conducted with the aim of compiling the results from NIRA's research activities and exploring the necessary approaches to clarify the "optimal form of the nation of Japan."
As the prelude to these activities, the "Opening Forum" will be held in March. In this forum entitled "Participation and Cooperation in the Era of Reform -- Exploring a New Form of Governance," discussions will be held to pursue the governance appropriate for the twenty-first century by separating governance into five domains "government," "society," "markets," "East Asia," and the "world." In this forum, governance is interpreted as "to implement a socioeconomic system and methods within that system based on the various styles of participation and cooperation of a wide range of players." Based on this, we will examine the form of governance capable of flexibly responding to the changing environment of the twenty-first century.
Specialists on governance in the abovementioned five domains will be invited to the forum to present their opinions not only from the perspective of their specialties, but from a wide range of views.
NIRA is planning to hold a series of symposia that focus on each of the five domains. Based on discussions that will be developed in these symposia, policy packages that meet the three major goals sought by NIRA, "Social Cooperation of Independent Citizens," "A Sustainable Socio-Economic System," and "Symbiosis of Human Beings and Peace" will be established and then re-organized as proposals for the five domains. The optimal socioeconomic system appropriate to the twenty-first century will be summarized as a proposal and presented by the end of 2005.
[Research Trends]
[New Projects]
Research on Wide-Area Local Governments and Revitalization of Communities -- Reorganization into the Autonomy System Utilizing Regional Characteristics --
- Research Institutes:
- Kansai Institute for Social and Economic Research (Osaka Prefecture)
- Tohoku Regional Development Research Center (Miyagi Prefecture)
- Research Period: December 2003 - February 2005
- Kansai Institute for Social and Economic Research (Osaka Prefecture)
This research project is based on the assumption that it is necessary to establish decentralized and self-governing states by establishing wide-area local governments that support diversified development of local communities. On this assumption, this project will consider and propose an ideal local government system that will replace the current prefectural- municipal one. This project will also consider measures to revitalize local communities that are indispensable for establishing autonomous civil societies as a foundation for decentralized and self-governing states.
Concretely, this project will divide the nation into several blocs, envisage the condition that wide-area local governments are established in each bloc, and select two of those blocks with different regional characteristics (Tohoku and Kansai Provinces are selected this time). Then, targeting each of the selected blocs, this project will consider public services in a cross-sectoral manner, including social security, education, culture, public work projects, industrial promotion, and public safety. Based on the results, this project will propose a new local government system that capitalized upon each region's characteristics and measures to revitalize local communities.
Regarding the framework of this research project, the Kansai Institute for Social and Economic Research plays a coordinating role as the representative research institute, the Tohoku Regional Development Research Center conducts research and analysis for the Tohoku Province, and the Kansai Institute conducts research and analysis for the Kansai Province.
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