[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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[in Japanese]

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The district councils of Italian Cities are evaluated as a most forward achievement of the decentralization and citizen participation among the west European cities.
This article intend to explore the present state of the district council in Bologna that had been reformed after new local government act 1990, paying particular attention to the citizen participation through the activity of the district council committees and social management of the other public facilities. This district governance, characterized by its participative-democratic structure, is conducted by a reform principle “liberal form of association” (LFA).
This study will suggest some controversial problem for the reform of local government in Japan of today.

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Voluntary associations are recognized to play an important role to form social capital. However most studies about social capital and civil society have been focused on independent voluntary associations and less respect has been paid to the role of traditional neighborhood associations, a community network for mutual assistance, and volunteers serving for local safety and welfare cooperating with local governments in Japan. This article examines the state of neighborhood associations as a member of civil society and social trust network generator. Also it presents the notion of important role of neighborhood associations to form social capital.

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This study critically evaluates the expectations of local residents from recent community welfare policies by centering the argument around policy trends of Council of Social Welfare and policies formulated by the Japan National Council of Social Welfare. It is understood that the high expectations toward welfare activities among residents in small communities are a response to the changes in the social welfare system in 2000, which were undertaken, in order to service contractors that target high-class citizens, thus forcing local communities to deal with the low-income class that results from the system. In order to prove this point, the study refers to “social inclusion” advocated by the state as well as measures for tackling the issue of poverty.

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