本研究の目的は石川県輪島市における産業廃棄物最終処分処理場の建設計画に関する住民投票を通じて、日本の自治体における住民投票のあり方を再考するものである。とくに全有権者の５０％以上の投票を成立要件とする、いわゆる「５０％条項」は、意図的な投票棄権や投票への諦めを誘発するもので、住民投票の趣旨である市民自治の理念に照らした場合、公正さを著しく阻害するものである。それはつとに指摘されてきたが、実際にどの程度の市民が、どのような影響を被るのかは日本では明らかにされてこなかった。本研究では石川県輪島市の住民意識調査を通してその実態を考察する。現在も日本の多くの自治体で採用されていることを問題視し、住民投票条例に盛り込まれている「50％条項」（有権者の2分の1以上の投票）の改正もしくは絶対得票率への条例改正を提言する。

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Recently, more and more municipal governments have begun to incorporate citizen participation into program reviews. One recruitment method that is becoming increasingly common is random sampling of residents, who are invited to participate in deliberations over policy issues in small groups as part of the review process. We investigated these new citizen participation activities in the Greater Tokyo Area by conducting participatory observations. We found that the activities could potentially have positive effects on municipal governance. One effect is increasing the number of participants, who previously had little access to existing public consultation, and this in turn contributes new policy knowledge to the policy making process; another is improving policy learning for technocrats through fuller deliberations. Like other forms of citizen participation involving by political actors, however, these activities have a downside: political mobilization. They provide municipal executives with political legitimacy for acting against the interests of other stakeholders (including related municipal divisions and private service providers) and for achieving their policy objectives through indirect means (framing and agenda controls) and direct ones (attendance and high visibility). Accordingly, we must be aware of the potential and risk for politicization of citizen panels in the reform of municipal governments and governance.

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