Multi-level Regulatory Governance, Public Interest, and the Causal Relationship between the Two

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K13666
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Politics
• Research Institution: Hokkaido University
• Principal Investigator: Murakami Yuichi 北海道大学, 法学研究科, 准教授 (50647039)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: マルチレベル・ガバナンス / 規制空間 / 科学技術・イノベーション / 地方創生 / ワシントン条約 / 広域自治体 / 鉄道運営 / 条約実施

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this project was to identify the causal relationship between multi-level governance (MLG) and the resultant ‘public interest’ and to draw a ‘favorable’ regulatory space model. The cases studied were (1) science, technology, and innovation policy with vertical and horizontal organizations in government, (2) local revitalization policies in which intergovernmental relations have been tested, and (3) the policy decision and implementation coordination mechanism in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and other regimes. The research found that (1) the MLG framework enables us to view international treaty implementation as a dynamic policy coordination process in time and space, (2) intergovernmental division of labor can lead to ‘good governance’ in a liberal democracy, and (3) a technically and politically legitimate multi-layered regulatory space can be effective in realizing some ‘public interest’ as a whole.

Free Research Field

行政学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

多層的規制では、技術的・政治的正統性を根拠とした、各層間の上下（指揮命令）関係が前提となるが、本研究では、第1に、上層（例：国際条約・合意）と下層（例：その国内実施）の間で、どちらかを確定的なものとはせず、一定の時間的・空間的幅の中でそれらを調整していく、動態的な政策（例：条約）実施モデル、第2に、権限と役割と責任についての各層（現場）の自覚を促し、結果として「良き統治」に繋がる、各層への分権・権限配分モデル、第3に、一元的な政府決定ではなく、主権者・住民に近い層での意思決定を尊重しつつ、より広い視野と他者への交渉力を上層（例：広域自治体・内閣）に与え、当事者に緊張感を持たせるモデルを示した。