Research project results report

Research Director: Kazunari Togawa (Lecturer, Faculty of Policy Planning and Management)
Co-researcher: Satoshi Fuchigami (Associate Professor Faculty of Policy Planning and Management)

1. Overview of research results
This study focuses on the local government employee system in order to derive hypotheses necessary to unravel ties from social capital theory, and conducted interviews with local governments that have introduced the local government employee system and those that smoothly manage local joint management, as well as compiled survey data on social capital in the metropolitan area, and implemented a research plan based on mixed methods.By doing so, we have discovered a clue to unraveling the mechanisms that unravel ties by examining the possibility from social capital theory that the local government employees in charge of the local government employee system and boundary connectors who act as intermediaries between residents and the government are smoothly running the system.

2. Books, papers, academic presentations, etc.
[Paper (peer-reviewed)]
Togawa, Kazunari, Usami, Jun, and Fuchi, Mototetsu (2025), "Research on Social Capital and the Community Officer System: Does the Community Officer System Promote Policy Participation and Increase Policy Satisfaction?", Annual Report of Economic Sociology, edited by the Economic and Sociological Association, accepted.
[Books and papers (non-peer reviewed)]
Togawa, Kazunari, Fuchi, Mototetsu, and Usami, Jun (2024), "Considerations on the local official system and urban governance in 61 cities nationwide as seen from a local government survey on community policies and resident participation that support daily life," Bulletin of Chiba University of Commerce, Vol. 62, No. 2, pp. 43-73.
[Conference presentations, etc.]
1. Kazunari Togawa and Mototetsu Fuchi (2024), "Does the abundance of social capital promote the introduction of the regional staff system?", Economic and Sociological Association, 60th National Conference, Asia University, Sunday, September 8, 2024.
2. Togawa, Kazunari (2024), "Does the dark side of social capital lead to stagnation in local community management?", Japanese Political Science Association, 2024 Annual General Meeting and Research Conference of the Japanese Political Science Association, Nagoya University, Sunday, October 6, 2024.