Cities & International Policy Diffusion: The Case of Tokyo

In an increasingly globalised world, today’s international challenges such as climate change transcend national boundaries and require multi-level governance responses. Cities, in particular, stand out as an essential governing unit with huge potentials in resolving some of the 21st century’s most pressing concerns. The recent explosion of the phenomenon of city-networks reflects intensifying city-to-city interactions in addressing global environmental issues. This article examines the case of Tokyo in addressing challenges posed by climate change. Examining the origin, development, and diffusion of Tokyo’s climate change policy, the cap-and-trade scheme was found to have first diffused from Europe to Tokyo, adjusted to adapt to the local context, then further diffused to other Asian cities. Study of Tokyo’s experience demonstrates that policy formation does not always follow a centralized, top-down, command-and-control approach. This findings challenge conventional realist conception which emphasises the dominance of central authorities and sovereign states in global policy formation. Under the framework of global governance, this article argues that cities are important sites of policy experimentation and innovation, and that the case of Tokyo demonstrates the potential of cross-country policy diffusion.