Political Institutions and Inter-municipal Relations

Institutional Collective Action Approach

Abstract

This article focuses on inter-municipal relations as a type of intergovernmental relationship. With relying on previous literature on inter-local governmental collaboration developed in Europe and the United States, the author explains why local governments cooperate through the institutional collective action (ICA) framework. Next, the author points out three aspects of political institutions that shape the relationship among local governments in Japan: intra-local conflicts, inter-local competitions, and national-local relations. Given Japan’s political institutions, the ICA framework suggests that local governments would compete intensely with each other and that the national government would call for local government mergers as the level of public services enhanced. Then the author demonstrates that this expectation is consistent with the results of the empirical analysis conducted in Japan. Finally, the author argues that since decentralization reform changes the relationship between the national and local governments, the key issues for the institutional debate are the competition for urban centers and the recent expression of the popular will through referendum votes.