地方自治体と高校生の連携による政策立案の可能性―より開かれた政治参加の実現を目指して―

抄録

In Japanese local communities where its population is shrinking and aging rapidly, activating their community and economy has been becoming a more and more important issue. For local communities to stop their young people to leave them, it is necessary to improve their education, employment, etc. Among those measures, town planning in education is effective in various ways. I’d like to propose that local governments should collaborate with high school students when they make policies. My study shows that high school students have deepened their recognition toward their hometowns through making policies to cope with the problems their towns have. Almost all the participated students showed interest in the regional issues that they had never known before. On the other hand, the local government officials have begun to recognize that the high school students’ suggestions on the policies are potentially effective. They have also begun to think it is important to reflect policy suggestions by the citizens into the real policy making.