The
Nippon Urban Management and Local Government Research Association (NUMLGRA) was
founded on 23rd June 1984 during a founding convention held in Osaka
with its purpose as an interdisciplinary and international research
organization.
The objectives of the Association are as follows: (1) promoting
theoretical and political research works for more scientific, modernistic and
democratic local autonomy systems, (2) contributing to local autonomy
development.
To accomplish these objectives, the Association has taken some
activities as follows: (1) holding a national convention annually and regional
meetings at regular times in the year, (2) publishing bulletins and collected
papers on the latest issues in local autonomy and administration, (3) offering
new public policies, (4) doing joint research with related parties, (5)
encouraging friendly relationships among members, and so on.
The Association consists of 288 individual members and 3
institutional members. The individual members include 152 scholars, 80
Certified Public Accountants, 41 officials from concerned administrative
bodies, and others (as of September 2001).
The annual national convention of the Association is usually held every autumn. At each convention, a common theme is set up by the host university. As the problems related to local autonomy are various and complicated, the Association needs to adopt interdisciplinary approaches to tackle them. Therefore, researchers in many different fields are invited to present works at the convention.
1st gCurrent Issues of Local Autonomyh,
Kobe University of Commerce, January 1985.
2nd gLocal Autonomy and Regional Activationh, Nihon University,
November 1985.
3rd gInformation Society and Local
Autonomyh, Toyo University, July 1986.
4th gAdministrative Reform and Local Autonomyh, Hannan
University, October 1987.
5th gLocal Autonomy in Age of Internationalizationh, Nihon
University, November 1988.
6th gLocal Autonomy in the Information-oriented Ageh, Chubu
University, September 1989.
7th gPerformance Evaluation and Local Autonomyh, Chuo
University, October 1990.
8th gLocal Autonomy and Regional Developmenth, Kobe University
of Commerce, September 1991.
9th gLocal Autonomy and Administration in Wider Areah,
University of Osaka Prefecture, October 1992.
10th gDecentralization of Power and Regional Management;
Philosophy and Policiesh, University of Marketing and Distribution Sciences,
September 1993.
11th gJapan Sea Rim and Regional Developmenth, Akita University
of Economics and Law, September 1994.
12th gUrban Community and Earthquake Disasterh, Konan University,
September 1995.
13th gEvolution of Information-Oriented Society and Local
Autonomyh, Meiji University, September 1996.
14th gDecentralizationh, Kansai University, September 1997.
15th The symposium section ‡T, gEnvironmental Issues and Local Societyh, The symposium ‡U, gLocal Autonomy and Accountabilityh, Senshu
Ishinomaki University , September 1998. (The convention was held under the
joint auspices of the Japan Society of Public Utility Economics, Hokkaido and
Tohoku branches.)
16th gAdministrative Reform and Fiscal Reconstructionh, Kwansei
Gakuin University, November 1999.
17th gFinancial Burdens and Asset Accumulation of Local Governmenth, Wako University, September 2000.
3. Publications
The Association
issues a bulletin entitled the Journal of Urban Management and Local Government Research. It is issued twice a year, and until now, it has been issued
twenty-nine times, the latest one being volume 16 number 2. The first bulletin
of the year consists of presentations and extracts from the symposium under the
common theme of the previous national convention, summaries of voluntary
presentation sessions, and presentations at each regional branch. The second
bulletin of the year consists of papers contributed by members.
The titles of
the papers are remarkably various, and they reflect the nature of the
Association as an interdisciplinary study group. The topics of the papers can
be classified broadly into six categories as follows: (1) local autonomy
systems, (2) regional management, (3) regional industrial developments, (4)
financial affairs of local governments, (5) governmental accounting and
auditing, and (6) information processing and new media in the public sector.
The Association
also edited and published the collected papers relating to the commemoration of
the tenth anniversary of the Associationfs foundation. The collection was
entitled Regional Management and Administrative and Financial Affairs of
Local Government (Zeimukeirikyokai, Tokyo, 1993) consisting of four
sections and 15 chapters. The titles of each section are as follows:
Section ‡T The Theories and Practices of Regional
Management
Section ‡U The Current Issues of Finance of Local
Government
Section ‡V The Organization and Problems of Local
Administration
Section ‡W The Current Issues of Accounting for Local
Authorities.
A local autonomy
study series was approved by the Association board of directors on September
1995. The publication plan contains two points of view. The first point is to
present problems about the new fields of local autonomy, whereas the latter is
to introduce the direction of studies about local autonomy in the world. Then,
in March 1998, the Association also published a book titled Forefront Theory of
Local Autonomy (Keso-Shobou, Tokyo, 1998) consisting of 13 chapters including
preface.
4. Trends and Projections for the Association
The Association is composed of researchers and scholars from various
specialized fields in social science, and has actively contributed to the
development of local autonomy. It has adhered to interdisciplinary studies
since its starting day and has also offered useful suggestions to the public on
the basis of academic research. The Association has tried to live up to the
expectations of the public demands, which call daily for new methods in local
governments and communities.
Presently, the
Association is confronted with new social requests in theoretical and practical
fields in order to face the newly arisen social conflicts within our society.
The Association
faces three active dimensions. First is the field where people live and are
active. Second is the field where the inertia operates of a regional feeling,
which residents have retained from the past. Third is the field where the
government finds and operates an optimal policy after viewing the above two
dimensions. At present, each dimension is threatened by a surge of social
disturbances: (1) drastic development of the aging society with decreasing
numbers of children, (2) development of technology arising from industry and
human life styles, (3) increasing problems of destruction of the environment
which threaten human life, (4) setting new international regulations (e.g. regulation
for government deficit).
Confronted with
these issues, the Association cannot continue to employ the existing measures
reflecting the empiricism of the public and private sectors. New optimal
resolutions and practical ones are needed on the bases of a theoretical
background. The Association is obliged to play a role to search for new ways.
Currently, the
central government has proposed new visions on the basis of intermediate and
long-range viewpoints. These proposals will continually appear in the future.
Then how can local governments prepare themselves for these policies under the
high tide of decentralization? Each local government naturally has its own
wants and interests. Moreover, they are asked to be accountable for their
administration by their residents and people who have become skeptical about
their high-cost government.
Considering such
situations, the Association has reviewed its own administrative system, and has
come up with the following action plans. First is to open the national convention
to the public and encourage participation conferences concerning local autonomy
through TV conferences to promote international debate on decentralization.
Third is to communicate more actively with other academic societies by setting
integrated targets for discussion. Fourth is to have the functional capital
facility to meet information technology development and correspond to various
requirements of our members.