Participatory budgeting in a local government in a vertical society: A Japanese story
| Author | Shahzad Uddin,Yuji Mori,Pawan Adhikari |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852317721335 |
| Date | 01 September 2019 |
| Published date | 01 September 2019 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Review of
Administrative
Article
Sciences
International Review of
Administrative Sciences
Participatory budgeting in a local
2019, Vol. 85(3) 490–505
! The Author(s) 2017
government in a vertical society:
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A Japanese story
DOI: 10.1177/0020852317721335
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
Shahzad Uddin
University of Essex, UK
Yuji Mori
University of Shizuoka, Japan
Pawan Adhikari
University of Essex, UK
Abstract
This article examines a case of participatory budgeting in Japanese local government.
The article demonstrates how cultural values interact with stages of budgeting (in our
case, the co-planning or consultation phase of budgeting). We find three key stake-
holders – councillors, administrators and citizens – have varying degree of participation
in the budget process. While direct citizen participation has been limited and challen-
ging, we find that local associations and councillors work as lobbyists to influence the
budget less publicly. The budget desk led by the mayor plays the dominant role. This
article contributes to the broader debate on local government reforms and their trans-
lation into varied contexts by problematising such a linear adoption of knowledge from
a cultural perspective.
Points for practitioners
We offer caution to policymakers about 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 council. This will allow more space for the councillors to make their case
to citizens, and maintain harmony (wa) within and between political groups.
Corresponding author:
Pawan Adhikari, Essex Business School, University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, UK.
Email: padhik@essex.ac.uk
Uddin et al.
491
Keywords
culture, Japan, local government, participatory budgeting
Introduction
Over the last decade, participatory budgeting (PB)1 has been one of the most
widespread reforms undertaken by local governments, with 1500 PB instances in
various countries (Baiocchi and Ganuza, 2014). PB in local governments has been
subject to scrutiny in many countries, mainly in Europe and the US (Gusmano,
2013; Rossmann and Shanahan, 2011). A number of studies have been carried out
to explain key stakeholders’ engagement (or lack thereof) in the local budgeting
process, citing both economic and non-economic reasons, for instance, budgetary
constraints and the perceptions of citizens (Barbera et al., 2016). However, fewer
studies have examined how the budgetary participation process operates and inter-
acts with local cultural conditions, which may provide deeper explanations for why
reforms such as PB often produce a variety of unanticipated consequences
(Christensen and Fan, 2016; Pollitt and Bouckaert, 2011).
PB instances in local government in Asian countries have been limited (Kuruppu
et al., 2016). Japanese local governments are of particular interest due to their
relatively recent interest in wider stakeholder engagement (Tanaka, 2010).
Political participation has long been in place in Japan through the direct election
of mayors and councillors. This has been further strengthened by the idea of direct
citizen participation in the selection of local priorities (Sintomer et al., 2012). While
some forms of PB are claimed to be in place in a number of Japanese city councils,
including Abiko, Siki, Nabari and Osaka-Sayama (Fukushima, 2014; JMRC, 2012;
Kanemura et al., 2016), academic research on PB processes in Japan is scarce
(Masujima, 2005).
PB, which advocates an Anglo-Saxon attitude towards governance, is likely to
raise interesting issues given that prevailing social and cultural values in Japan are
significantly different from those of Western countries (Christensen, 2000; Eshima
et al., 2001; Jun and Muto, 1995; Kudo, 2003; Norton, 2007). Our Japanese case
presents us with an excellent opportunity to study and theorise the dynamics of PB
processes in a non-Western context. Thus, we intend to focus2 on the interactions
of stages of the PB process and cultural norms.
Empirically, the article investigates the nature and extent of participation in
the budgeting process of a Japanese local government – Kitakyushu Council –
frequently cited for championing citizens’ participation (JMRC, 2012). We inves-
tigate participation in budgeting, taking a broader perspective involving citizens,
administrators and councillors. Analytically, the article examines how cultural
conditions shape the intended PB process.
The next section provides a brief review of local government budgeting
and participation, followed by an introduction to the theoretical framework and
the research method section. Empirical findings are then presented and set in the
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International Review of Administrative Sciences 85(3)
context of the cultural norms of Japanese society. The article finishes with some
concluding remarks.
Participatory budgeting and cultural perspectives
In Western democracies, PB3 has increasingly been seen as an important tool for
a deliberative or participative form of democracy in which stakeholders have
opportunities to engage in local authority decision-making processes (Ariely,
2013). This has given rise to numerous PB instances, leading to academic interests
in scrutinising the extent of stakeholder engagement. Some studies have highlighted
the success of PB. For instance, Baiocchi and Lerner (2007) discuss the success of
PB in balancing resource allocation in some ethnically diverse Canadian local
communities. Similarly, PB in Ichikawa, Japan, has been credited with supporting
non-profit projects (Sintomer et al., 2012).
However, most of the current studies on PB are critical of wider stakeholder
engagement, reporting unintended consequences such as: mistrust between coun-
cillors and citizens (Im et al., 2014); low and unrepresentative participation (Ebdon
and Franklin, 2006); the domination of technocrats (Gusmano, 2013); and merely
being a legitimacy tool, with no direct consequences for the final budget
(Bra¨utigam, 2004). Studies have cited underlying economic and institutional
impediments, such as poor budgetary allocations for citizens and economic auster-
ity discouraging the engagement of wider stakeholders in the PB process (Cepiku
et al., 2016; Rossmann and Shanahan, 2011).
While economic and institutional reasons are important, cultural variables are
also critical in shaping wider stakeholder engagement, including of citizens (or the
lack thereof), in the PB process (Van Helden and Uddin, 2016). Culture has long
been considered in the New Public Management (NPM) literature to be a key
determinant of the process, consequences and outcomes of reforms (Christensen
et al., 2007). Different cultural frameworks, for instance, Hofstede’s national
culture (Kim, 2017), grid-group culture (Simmons, 2016) and Douglasian theory
(Linsley et al., 2016), among others, have been drawn on to explain public sector
reforms and their implementation. Japanese studies have discussed the cultural
context in relation to the adoption of Western-centric administration and local
government reforms (Jun and Muto, 1995; Norton, 2007). Some argued that the
culture of collectivism has been a positive force in making successful reforms in the
public sector of Japan (Christensen, 2000; Eshima et al., 2001).
Nevertheless, cultural perspectives of PB processes are relatively under-
researched, despite the calls for studying culture in public engagement (Pollitt
and Bouckaert, 2011). Irvin and Stansbury (2004) have argued that low and unrep-
resentative participation in the budget process may be indicative of a local culture
characterised by citizens’ undisputed acceptance of decisions undertaken by coun-
cillors. In a similar vein, some Japanese studies have reported challenges in getting
individuals involved in the PB process (Fukushima, 2014; Nakatani, 2013).
Building on the aforementioned literature, this article draws on Nakane’s (1970)
Uddin et al.
493
work4 to offer some understanding of the challenges of PB processes in Japanese
local government.
Vertical society – the Japanese way
Nakane’s main focus was to understand Japanese society by examining the
Japanese individual, group formation and the relationships between the group
and individual, as well as between groups. These relationships have serious impli-
cations for how participation occurs at the level of organisation and beyond.
We have also employed recent studies on Japanese culture and society (Abe,
1995; Benedict, 1988; Kokami, 2009; Van Wolferen, 1989) to complement
Nakane’s work.
Nakane (1970) employed the concepts of ‘frame’ (‘ba’ in Japanese) and ‘attri-
bute’ to capture how individuals see themselves in a group and in society at large.
‘Frame’ indicates a location or belongingness, while ‘attribute’ indicates profession
or position. Identifying with a particular frame – a company, family or group, in
other words, a collective – is considered to be the primary means of introduction.
Social grouping in Japan is often constructed on the basis of a frame of group
members (workplace, village, etc.), with differing attributes. In order to sustain the
group, coherence is crucial (Benedict,...
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