Research Center for Civil Consciousness in a Multicultural World (CCC)

Center Director: Yoshiaki Kobayashi (Professor, Faculty of Law)

Main Campus: Mita

This center aims to establish a hub for the empirical research and education on the dynamics of civil consciousness in a multicultural world. The need for such a center arises from the fact that in recent years, conflicts between different cultures have become more apparent in many nations and societies with the advance of globalization. In response to this situation, traditional political science has largely focused on specific political and social leaders, such as political parties, politicians, bureaucrats, and interest groups in various countries, and has contributed significantly to "explaining" conflicts among these leaders. However, conflicts between cultures cannot be resolved by political leaders alone. It is necessary to clarify what kind of consciousness citizens have and to elucidate how this consciousness changes due to various factors and affects the political system. Therefore, we aim to form a center that explores the path toward multicultural coexistence by elucidating the mechanisms behind the generation and change of the dynamics of civil consciousness in a multicultural world, and by conducting research that complements the findings of traditional political science, which has primarily focused on political leaders.

Political Science, Sociology, Law

(Civil Society) (Civil Consciousness) (Multicultural) (Multigenerational) (Political Process) (Comparative Politics) (Japanese Politics)

■ Activities Continuing from the Previous Fiscal Year: Background, Rationale, and Goals

There are no activities continuing from fiscal year 2010 as we are transitioning to the next phase. New activities are described in the next section.

■ New Activity Goals and Content for Fiscal Year 2011, and Implementation Background

We will conduct an international comparative study on political reform and electoral processes. Specifically, the objective is to quantitatively analyze the words and actions of politicians in Japan, with its parliamentary cabinet system, and in South Korea, with its presidential system. We will measure the impact of political systems on policy formation, particularly on policy innovation, and formulate proposals for future political renewal in Japan. To this end, we will clarify who is promoting political reform in each region and how, through attitude surveys of political actors in local governments and content analysis of election pledges. Political reform here refers to reforms concerning the policy-making process and policy outputs. In recent years, a succession of heads of local governments running on a platform of "reform" have been elected. It can be said that the focus in the political process has begun to shift from "reform or not" to "how to reform." However, there has been little verification of what reform measures have actually been selected in each municipality. Were the patterns of policy selection influenced by the preferences of actors or electoral competition? By analyzing this, our research will depict how the expectations for "reform" entrusted by voters have been translated into reality.

The background of this research is the rapid increase in the number of heads of local governments being elected on a platform of "reform." Young candidates in their early 30s and "anti-coalition" candidates have advocated for a departure from existing politics, and voters have placed their hopes in them. However, there is no systematic research on which measures they have taken from a variety of reform options to advance reform after being elected. In this study, we will use the concepts of "input-oriented legitimacy" and "output-oriented legitimacy" proposed by Scharpf to classify reform-related measures into "reforms concerning policy efficiency" and "reforms concerning the democracy of the policy-making process," and clarify the selection patterns of reform measures in each municipality (i.e., which is emphasized). Furthermore, we will seek to explain the factors behind the different selection patterns of reform measures among municipalities by looking at the differences in the preferences of political actors, and we will verify this. This is because, needless to say, local governments make policy choices through the interaction of multiple internal and external actors (for example, the head of government and the assembly). At this time, the preferences of political actors will be identified through attitude surveys of the actors and content analysis of the election pledges of local assembly members. Much of the previous research has inferred political preferences from "partisanship," but it is difficult to infer the political preferences of heads of government, many of whom are coalition or independent candidates, from partisanship. Moreover, research on election pledges has shown that political preferences can differ even among those belonging to the same political party. Therefore, the political preferences of municipal heads that influence policy selection and the degree of divergence in preferences between the head and the local assembly must be identified not by inference from partisanship, but through attitude surveys and content analysis. Furthermore, to analyze the impact of political systems, such as central-local government relations and the head-assembly system, on the selection of reform measures, this study will conduct attitude surveys and pledge content analysis in Japan and South Korea for comparison and examination. While many studies have suggested the influence of political systems on policy choice, there is almost no research that considers the relationship with political preferences based on attitude surveys.

From this perspective, we will hold a joint symposium from June 8 to 10, 2011, in Daejeon, South Korea, with our center, the Election Study Center of National Chengchi University (with which our center has an exchange agreement), and the Korean Association for Election Studies. Through comparative analysis, we will clarify whether political systems promote or hinder policy choices that align with the political preferences of actors. This research will be conducted with a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (KAKENHI) from MEXT (Basic Research: approved).

■ Implementation Details for the Fiscal Year's Project Plan, Research Outcomes, and Degree of Achievement

In fiscal year 2010, we planned to implement "Analysis of Local Governance and Construction of a New Decentralization System" and "Multifaceted Research on Japanese Agriculture, Regional Revitalization, and Food." For the former, we held monthly study groups as a joint research project with Think Tank Kanagawa, a Kanagawa Prefecture think tank, to conceptualize a new decentralization system. Additionally, when conducting mock elections at prefectural high schools throughout Kanagawa Prefecture during the summer House of Councillors election, we studied the formation and transformation of high school students' consciousness. Furthermore, we will publish the research results combined with those from fiscal year 2009. For the latter, as a joint research project with Dentsu, Nikkei Inc., and NHK Enterprises, we will hold a symposium in March to propose new directions for food and agriculture in Japan in a new era. We also analyzed attitude survey data on food safety and identified issues for both producers and consumers.

In collaboration with Kanagawa Prefecture, we conducted a survey to measure the effects of the mock elections held at all prefectural high schools. We also conducted a survey of prefectural residents' attitudes toward the Ordinance to Prevent Passive Smoking enacted by Kanagawa Prefecture, and will publish these results together with Kanagawa Prefecture as "Local Democracy and Regional Strength" (March 2011, Gyosei Corporation).