Abstract
Recently the central and local governments have been reforming the social welfare services which were based on the Constitution of Japan, establishad right after World War II. In regard to the Report of the 2nd Ad Hoc Commission on Administative Reform, the central government stresses several points : the first is the responsibilities of "self-help" of people ; the second is the mobilizing of welfare services industries ; the third is the responsibilities of the local government, especialy the basic automonous administration; the fourth is the reduction of the responsibilities of the central government. Under these conditions, one of the major problems is the reduction of the responsibilities of the central government. We now have to focus on the roles of local government, the community activities and the social welfare rights movement, as well as the co-operation between local government and community activities. I am researching the trends of social welfare policies in Hiroshima prefecture at three levels : the type of policy ; the social welfare services available ; the financial situation during a phase of slow growth after experiencing the oil crisis in 1973. As a result, we found the following points. The first is that the social welfare services of the local government have been deeply cut, more than we thought, by the reductions of the central government. The second is that the local governments have chosen social industrial development policies. So now we have to focus on the social welfare rights movement against these tendencies in order to assist the people who have these problems.
