発言シークエンスからみた流域委員会の住民意見調整機能

抄録

The River Law, revised in 1997, provides that a plan of river improvement work for the next 20 to 30 years should be made for each Rank 1 river system by hearing the opinions of scholars, local residents and local governments. But, such opinions, especially those of local residents, are highly varied and sometimes contradicting, and a compromise among the residents is necessary before considering their participation in the planning. This paper discusses the present condition and the future possibility of a process to reach compromise among local parties of differing opinions in the meeting of watershed councils, which are organized by river administration bureaus to hear such opinions. Analyzing speaker sequence in the records of five watershed councils, the authors point out the five factors most important to uncover potential disputes and encourage compromise activities: (1) Advance specification of disputable subjects and fair nomination of committee members for discussing the subjects: (2) Encouraging discussion among concerned parties and controlling excessive verbal input by council secretariat: (3) Quantitative examination on disputable subjects by third parties to prepare the foundation of discussion: (4) Introduction of citizens' opinions presented in public hearings to the council: (5) Temporary participation of concerned parties, which were not included at the beginning of discussions, as needed for discussing a subject.