“Reconsidering the ePublic Sphere’ in a Globalized Age-Through an Examination of Regional Disparity”
Key questions
- How can we alleviate regional disparity in each state under globalization?
- How can we facilitate regional diversity in each state under globalization?
Research Purpose and Approach
This project focuses on the “public sphere” within a sovereign state as an arena to reflect the tension between social diversity and ethnocentric nationalism created by globalization. We approach the issue of how public power can or cannot be justified through deliberation in the public sphere in individual policy fields. To be more specific, we will work on case studies in various policy fields from the viewpoints of law, political science, and economics, examining issues such as how to understand “regional diversity,” whether this phenomenon can be corrected, and, if it can, what policy principles and policy measures should be applied.
Here, we carry out our studies in three small groups. The first study group will examine the regional diversity in urban versus rural regions that will discuss issues such as preservation of rural villages and mountain forests, the environment, and agriculture. The second group will work on regional diversity in markets applying industry cluster analysis. The third group will discuss the legal correction systems in the central-local relations. Research members will join these groups to advance the project. After reaching midterm research achievements, we will reinterpret our findings from the viewpoints of multicultural conviviality and gender equality. In addition, in order to make international comparisons, we plan to organize a mini international workshop together with researchers who are tackling this issue in China and France.
Research Activities
In October 2008, we held a mini international workshop at Tsinghua University in China in parallel with the project “Globalization and Nationalism,” where we discussed how we would carry out the project in the future. In November 2008, we exchanged views on the industrial cluster analysis in Japan with researchers from France. In 2009, we held many workshops regarding regional disparity in Japan and co-hosted an international symposium with researchers and practicing professionals from France in February 2010. We will continue these researches in 2010.
Project Leader
INABA, Kaoru
Affiliation
Professor, School of Law, Tohoku University
Research Fields
Administrative Law
Results
Member
| Name | Affiliated Institution/Organization |
|---|---|
| IIJIMA Junko | Tohoku University, School of Law (Associate Professor) |
| IKUTA Osato | Tohoku University, School of Law (Professor, Emeritus) |
| OHNISHI Hitoshi | Tohoku University, School of Law (Professor) |
| KUWAMURA Yumiko | Tohoku University, School of Law (Associate Professor) |
| SHIBUYA Masahiro | Tohoku University, School of Law (Professor) |
| TOZAWA Hidenori | Tohoku University, School of Law (Professor) |
| MAKIHARA Izuru | Tohoku University, School of Law (Professor) |
| UNNO Hiroshi | Former Professor at Tohoku University, School of Law |
| HISATAKE Masato | Former Professor at Tohoku University, School of Law |
| KUSE Masahito | Former Professor at Tohoku University, School of Law |
| NISHIIZUMI Akio | Former Associate Professor at Tohoku University, School of Law |
| NAKANO Takeshi | Tohoku University, School of Law (Associate Professor) |
| KODAMA Norihiko | Former Associate Professor at Tohoku University, School of Law |
| HASHIMOTO Itsuo | Tohoku University, School of Law (Professor) |
| SUWAZONO Sadaaki | Former Professor at Tohoku University, School of Law |
| NAKAHARA Shigeki | Tohoku University, School of Law (Professor) |
| NISHIDA Chikara | Tohoku University, School of Law (Professor) |
（As of March’2011）
