Transforming Local Governance: How Thailand Can Learn from Japan's Success
Keywords:
decentralization, Japan, local governance, public service delivery, ThailandAbstract
This article examines the local governance system in Japan, highlighting its significant autonomy, robust citizen engagement, and innovative approaches to urban challenges and sustainability. Through a comparative lens, it offers critical insights and lessons for Thailand, which is currently navigating its own path toward enhancing local governance amidst challenges of decentralization, demographic shifts, and the need for sustainable development. The analysis delves into Japan's strategies for managing decentralization, addressing an aging population, achieving financial sustainability, fostering public participation, leveraging technology in service delivery, and building resilience against natural disasters. Drawing on these insights, the article outlines implications for Thailand, suggesting that adopting similar strategies could significantly improve the efficiency, responsiveness, and inclusiveness of its local governance. The conclusion underscores the potential for Thailand to learn from Japan's experience, emphasizing the need for a collaborative effort among Thai policymakers, local governments, and communities to adapt and integrate these lessons, thereby enhancing the quality of life for Thai citizens and advancing broader national development goals.
References
Andrews, C., & Vries, M. (2007). High expectations, varying outcomes: decentralization and participation in Brazil, Japan, Russia and Sweden. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 73, 424 - 451. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020852307081151.
Baker, C., Baker, C. J., & Phongpaichit, P. (2022). A history of Thailand. Cambridge University Press.
Bovaird, T. (2007). Beyond engagement and participation: User and community coproduction of public services. Public Administration Review, 67(5), 846-860. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6210.2007.00773.x
Bowornwathana, B. (2000). Governance reform in Thailand: Questionable assumptions, uncertain out-comes. Governance, 13(3), 393-408. https://doi.org/10.1111/0952-1895.00139
Callahan, W. A. (1998). Imagining democracy: Reading "The vents of May" in Thailand." Singapore: Insti-tute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Carlisle, L., & Michio, M. (1997). Local power in the Japanese state. The Journal of Asian Studies, 60, 560 - 561. https://doi.org/10.2307/2659741.
Chambers, P., & Waitoolkiat, N. (2020). Thailand’s thwarted democratization. Asian Affairs: An American Review, 47(2), 149-175.
Cho, A. (2014). Post-tsunami recovery and reconstruction: governance issues and implications of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Disasters, 38(Suppl 2), S157-78 . https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12068.
Cohen, D., & Prusak, L. (2001). In good company. Harvard Business School Press.
Funston, N. J. (Ed.). (2009). Divided over Thaksin: Thailand's coup and problematic transition. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Gaventa, J. (2004). Towards participatory governance: Assessing the transformative possibilities. In Hickey, S. & Mohan, G. (Eds.), Participation: From Tyranny to Transformation? Zed Books.
Gupta, R. (1986). Local government in Japan: An analytical review. China Report, 22, 421 - 440. https://doi.org/10.1177/000944558602200402.
Hall, J. (1970). Government and local power in Japan 500-1700: A study based on Bizen province. Princeton University Press.
Hanibuchi, T. (2002). The Japanese Urban System: Spatial Organization of Major Enterprises. Japanese Journal of Human Geography, 54, 389-404. https://doi.org/10.4200/JJHG1948.54.389.
Hein, C., & Pelletier, P. (2006). Cities, autonomy, and decentralization in Japan. Taylor & Francis.
Hijino, K. (2020). Local government in Japan. The Oxford Handbook of Japanese Politics. https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780190050993.013.16.
Hooghe, L., & Marks, G. (2003). Unraveling the Central State, But How? Types of Multi-Level Govern-ance. IHS Political Science Series: 2003, No. 87.
Litvack, J. I., Ahmad, J., & Bird, R. M. (1998). Rethinking decentralization in developing countries. World Bank Publications.
Malesky, E., & London, J. D. (2014). The political economy of development in China and Vietnam. Annual Review of Political Science, 17(1), 395-419. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-041811-150032
Marks, D. (2011). Climate change and Thailand: Impact and response. Contemporary Southeast Asia, 33(2), 229–258. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41288828
Matanle, P., & Rausch, A. S. (2011). Japan's shrinking regions in the 21st century: Contemporary respons-es to depopulation and socioeconomic decline. Cambria Press.
McCargo, D. (2017). Tearing apart the land: Islam and legitimacy in Southern Thailand. Cornell University Press.
Moteki, Y. (2020). Government evaluations in Japan’s municipalities based on nationwide survey data. Journal of Japanese Management, 5(1), 35-50. http://www. jfmra. org/doc/jjm/jjm_5-1_03. pdf.
Mudalige, P. (2020). Performance of Decentralized Local Service Delivery in Developed Countries: Case Study of Japan. European Scientific Journal ESJ, 16(35), 40-69. https://doi.org/10.19044/esj.2020.v16n35p40.
Muramatsu, M. (2021). Local power in the Japanese state. University of California Press.
Muscat, R. J. (2016). The fifth tiger: Study of Thai development policy. Routledge.
Ockey, J. (2004). Making democracy: Leadership, class, gender, and political participation in Thailand. University of Hawaii Press.
Ohsugi, S. (2016). Changing local government system in Japan: “Unfinished” decentralization reform and local revitalization. In Theoretical Foundations and Discussions on the reformation process in local governments (pp. 373-399). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-0317-0.CH016.
Ohta, R., Ryu, Y., Kataoka, D., & Sano, C. (2021). Effectiveness and challenges in local self-governance: Multifunctional autonomy in Japan. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(2), 574. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18020574.
Olowu, D., & Wunsch, J. S. (2004). Local governance in Africa: The challenges of democratic decentrali-zation. Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Painter, M. (2006). Thaksinisation or managerialism? Reforming the Thai bureaucracy. Journal of Con-temporary Asia, 36(1), 26-47.
Pharr, S., & Krauss, E. S. (Eds.). (1996). Media and politics in Japan. University of Hawaii Press.
Putnam, R. D. (1993). What makes democracy work? National Civic Review, 82(2), 101-107.
Riggs, F. W. (1966). Thailand: The modernization of a bureaucratic polity. University of Hawaii Press.
Samudavanija, C. A. (1995). The Thai Young Turks. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.
Samuels, R. J. (2013). 3.11: Disaster and change in Japan. Cornell University Press.
Schmidt, C. (2009). After the reform : How is Japan's local democracy changing? Hitotsubashi Journal of Social Studies, 41, 13-31. https://doi.org/10.15057/17528.
Shah, A. (Ed.). (2006). Local governance in developing countries. World Bank Publications.
Smethurst, R. (2007). From foot soldier to finance minister: Takahashi Korekiyo, Japan's Keynes. Harvard University Asia Center Publications Program.
Sorensen, A. (2003). Building world city Tokyo: Globalization and conflict over urban space. The Annals of Regional Science, 37, 519-531.
Sorensen, A. (2005). The making of urban Japan: cities and planning from Edo to the twenty first century. Routledge.
Sorensen, A., & Okata, J. (Eds.). (2010). Megacities: urban form, governance, and sustainability (Vol. 10). Springer Science & Business Media.
Sorensen, A., Okata, J., & Fujii, S. (2010). Urban Renaissance as Intensification: Building Regulation and the Rescaling of Place Governance in Tokyo’s High-rise Manshon Boom. Urban Studies, 47, 556 - 583. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098009349775.
Steiner, K. (1965). Local government in Japan. Stanford University Press.
The Ministry of Home Affairs. (1982). Local administration and finance in Japan. International Review of Administrative Sciences, 48(2), 166-179.
Todokoro, T. (2014). Decentralizing Tokyo's capital functions. Journal of Geography, 123, 528-541. https://doi.org/10.5026/JGEOGRAPHY.123.528.
Waley, P. (2007). Tokyo-as-world-city: Reassessing the role of capital and the state in urban restructuring. Urban Studies, 44(8), 1465-1490. https://doi.org/10.1080/004209807013 73511.
Ward, R. E., & Sakamoto, Y. (Eds.). (2019). Democratizing Japan: The allied occupation. University of Hawaii Press.
