Since direct local election was started in June 1995, local autonomy has been progressed gradually. However, after that, with growing demand and voice of local communities, and expansion of self-governing capability of municipal corporations, conflict...
Since direct local election was started in June 1995, local autonomy has been progressed gradually. However, after that, with growing demand and voice of local communities, and expansion of self-governing capability of municipal corporations, conflicts between central and local government agencies have risen rapidly. Therefore, there has been huge requirement to come up with better solution for this situation.
Interests and rights are tangled in conflicts between central and local government agencies, so its own right and profits, rather than nationwide gains or public interest, tend to get more focus. Sometimes, it causes antagonism. However, it will be exaggeration to say that these conflicts bring on negative side-effect only. They can function as what they are supposed to be, such as offering proper service for residents, revitalizing dynamic function of municipal corporations and boosting mutual understanding and cooperative relations. However, if these conflicts more drawn out, it can lead to delay of essential local projects or policy performance. Moreover, they can cause administrative inefficiency of not only local communities but also the whole nation, and they also can be an obstacle to enhancing the quality of residents’ life. Therefore, early and rational responding to these conflicts and making a proper model solution to help both governments promote cooperative relations are essential at this point.
This thesis is to set up a cooperation model based on theoretical pattern of relationship between governments, figure out main causes that restrict or promote cooperative relationship among central government, metropolitan organizations and municipal corporations through survey analysis. Finally, it is to indicate the proper formula and solution, which fit right into an era of decentralization and balanced national development. To do this, survey of public officers in central government, metropolitan organizations and municipal corporations was taken. The results are as follows:
First, survey found that cooperation could be helpful for performance but not good for enforcement. To be exact, it means that various exchange for political consultation is essential, and institutionalization of the exchange should be supported.
Second, survey found that cooperation for international relation, which is held mainly by municipal corporations, had been handled quite well. However, there was no certain boundary that can categorize each territory of central government, metropolitan organizations and municipal corporations in environmental policy, urban development policy, and etc. In the future, institutionalization of administrative authority in each corporation should be under way, and ADR is needed when it comes to division of enforcement. Therefore, mediation agency as a cooperative committee of administration is necessary.
Third, survey found that high-ranking officials thought that political cooperation had been done articulately, but low-ranking officials thought differently. Different recognition between executives and working officialscan cause a problem in a stage of policy making and performance, and, in a long run, it can be an obstacle to making the right decision. Cooperative political committee for low-ranking officials is essential, and administrative support to manage the committee should be followed.
These results indicate the following implications.
This year marks 13th anniversary of local autonomy, which has been evaluated as a policy for enhancing competitiveness of local governments and balanced national development. However, it has been criticized for human resources, budgets and so on since its start. Recently, with growth of self-governing capability of municipal corporations, these corporations have taken care of their own finance, and local business has become animated. However, powerful authority of central government still exists, so this fact has been an obstacle to policy enforcement of municipal corporations. These days, research that deals with this issue has been conducted in many different ways. This thesis is aiming to analyze cooperative relations between central and local governments from different perspective. To overcome limits of analysis of existing cases and measurement, it classifies central government, metropolitan organizations and municipal corporations for survey and better analysis, and divides public servants into high andlow-ranking officials for an analysis. According to previous research, cooperative relationship between governments has been progressed in comparison to what it was like in the past, but still there is a problem in working-level fields. Therefore, cooperative committee is required to mitigate conflicts, and administrative support for this committee can be not only another solution but also an important material for this kind of study in the future.