The Trend toward Local Government Think Tanks: Challenges and Prospects for the Future

Abstract

The decentralization of power from Japan's central government to its local governments has led to an interesting development at the local level: the establishment of think tanks by local governments. The author calls these “local government think tanks.”

The author defines local government think tanks as “institutions（organizations）organized to conduct serious research on local government policies and to propose solutions to specific problems.”

These local government think tanks can take various forms, including incorporated foundations or third-sector（non-profit）organizations. The types of organizations discussed in this paper are local government think tanks established as part of a local government. For example, the Policy Research Institution of Toda is located at Toda City Hall, and the Shinjuku Institute for Policy Studies is located at the Shinjuku City Office.

Using these think tanks as examples, this paper discusses the trend toward local government think tanks and identifies the challenges and prospects related to their future development.