イギリスにおける「イングランド問題(English Question)」 : イングランド内における地域分権を巡る問題についての一考察  [in Japanese] "English Question" in the United Kingdom : A Study Concerning the Issue over Regionalism in England  [in Japanese]

In the United Kingdom, after publication of governmental "White Paper" in 2002, Blair government aimed to establish new organization i.e., "region" that is positioned between central and local governments, and put into practice as regionalism in England. However, the establishment of its organization requires an approval by a referendum, but the first voting step of the referendum in the North East met a majority vote of opposition, and it was not approved. Since then, there has been no movement for the referendum in any other regions. There for, this issue has been actually frozen. There are various problems concerning regionalism in England. For example, the regions in England have a weaker competence and a vague character in comparison with Scotland, and so forth. Then, there is an another choice of regionalism in England. That is to say, England has an original parliamental system like Scotland Parliament. But this choice has another problem of relationship between this Parliament and the Westminster Parliament. Inspite of these circumstances, devolution and regionalism in the United Kingdom are providing our country with an useful information. This article examines regionalism in England, and it would be useful for the "dou-syu" system that is a crucial issue of local autonomy in our country.