Participatory budgeting in a local government in a vertical society: A Japanese story

Abstract

This paper examines a case of participatory local government budgeting in Japan. The paper demonstrates how cultural values interact with stages of the PB process (in our case coplanning or consultation phase of budgeting). We find three key stakeholders -assembly members, officials and citizens -have varying degree of participation in the budget process.Whilst direct citizen participation has been limited and challenging, we find local associations and assembly members work as lobbyists to influence the budget less publicly. This paper makes an important contribution in arguing that wider stakeholders' engagements need to be considered in terms of the particular cultural context. The paper also contributes to the broader debate on local government reforms and their translation into varied contexts by problematising such a linear adoption of knowledge. Points for practitionersWe offer cautions to policy makers for the wholesale adoption of knowledge from one context to the other. In the Japanese context, we urge them to draw on the strengths of grouping behaviour. Hence, engagement with associations, communities and various interests groups must be emphasised instead of simply relying on direct yet remote communications to citizens. Political engagements by the departments -perhaps via political parties -can be adopted before budget proposals are made to the local authority assembly. This will allow more space for the politicians to make their case to citizens, and maintain harmony (wa) within and between the political groups.

Multiple rationalities of participatory budgeting in indigenous communities: evidence from Indonesia

“…The role that local traditions, especially indigenous culture, can play in materialising NPM reforms, in particular PB, as well as the outcomes of PB in indigenous settings has been largely neglected in these works (Stiglitz, 2002). For instance, many indigenous cultures promote informal and indirect participation, which may easily come to undermine the very idea of direct formal participation underlying PB (Uddin et al, 2019). Alawattage et al (2014) provide the example of Sarvodya , the largest and oldest NGO in Sri Lanka, which initiated an indigenous social movement in which rural developments were supported through participatory and grassroots initiatives such as village rituals, until they were exposed to development aid and neo-liberal political ideologies.…”

“…Cultural factors are increasingly considered to be a key determinant of the unintended consequences of NPM reforms taking place at local levels (Hood, 1995). Cultural perspectives on participatory budgeting (PB) processes and outcomes at local government levels are, however, relatively under-researched in the mainstream NPM literature (Uddin et al , 2019). PB is advocated as a reform at the local levels of many emerging and less-developed economies, whereby it is hoped that indigenous communities can keep their values and culture vibrant (Grillos, 2017).…”

Direct and non‐linear innovation effects of demographic shifts

“…Although Japan records high levels of innovation performance from a cross‐national perspective (Cornell University, INSEAD, and WIPO, 2019), few studies exist on public sector innovation and the determinants of innovation in Japanese municipalities. However, several studies examine innovation‐related aspects and organizational performances of Japanese municipalities, such as aspirations to be a leading local government (Aoki, 2019), disaster recovery and restoration (Aoki, 2014, 2015, 2018; Dollery, Kinoshita, & Yamazaki, 2019), accrual accounting innovation (Kobayashi, Yamamoto, & Ishikawa, 2016), municipal spending cuts and citizen responses (Suzuki, 2017), citizen participation (Granier & Kudo, 2016; Uddin, Mori, & Adhikari, 2019), gender and risk‐taking behaviour in local public finance (Suzuki & Avellaneda, 2018), managerial changes and administrative reforms, including large‐scale consolidation of municipalities (Suzuki & Ha, 2018; Suzuki & Sakuwa, 2016; Yamada, 2016, 2018), and New Public Management (Kudo, 2015).…”

Translating participatory budgeting in Russia: the roles of inscriptions and inscriptors

“…In this regard, some recent research efforts have been made to examine the dynamics of PB within a local context through emphasizing citizenry' and authorities' perceptions of PB and related actions. To illustrate, Uddin et al (2017) argue that PB potential should be considered in terms of a particular cultural context. For Velinov & Kuruppu (2016), the PB design at a local setting is a result of a diffusion process.…”