A Study about the Role of Municipality Think Tanks and Planning Administration

―The case study of Joetsu City Policy Research Unit―

Abstract

The municipality think tank is a research organization that independently approaches the increasingly complex and diversified problems the municipalities have and improves policy-making capabilities of the municipality.

Through summarizing the approach of the Joetsu City Policy Research Unit, to which I belong, I think that important roles of municipality think tanks are to provide data for policy making, to propose policies, to promote administrative reforms, and so on.

In order to fully perform such role, it is necessary to harmonize apparently contrastive elements such as closeness and independent, specialty and comprehension. In addition, with maturity of administrative management, the organizational forms of municipality think tanks should progress from project-type to comprehensive-type, and network-type.