Japan’s Foreign Aid
Beset by fiscal problems, domestic critics, and international pressures for reform, Japanese official development assistance (ODA) policy has recently been marked by spending cuts, pledges of better quality, and a new national assertiveness. Studies of the effects of these changes on the ground, however, have been rare. This book fills the gap in existing research and reviews the status of Japan’s ODA at the start of the new millennium. Japan has earned praise for being the world’s single largest donor of ODA from the early 1990s through 2001, but it has also been criticized at home and abroad for a lack of transparency, a lack of sensitivity to recipient needs, and the lack of a coherent and coordinated policy that targets poverty. In the latter half of the 1990s, in response to fiscal problems, as well as to internal and external pressures for policy shifts, Japan began to address the need for change. This volume evaluates the state of Japan’s aid program through comparison with other donors in a variety of settings. The contributors are experts from various disciplines who have had direct experience of Japanese ODA, and they offer a wide range of donor and aid recipient viewpoints. The contributors shed light on the complexity of the Japanese ODA system, and give insight into the nature of its particular problems and issues. Many offer policy recommendations, and their views suggest how Japanese aid is perceived today by relevant expert communities. Essential reading for anyone interested in Japanese ODA policy, Japan’s Foreign Aid will also appeal to economists, scholars, and those with an interest in global development. David Arase is Professor of Politics at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He has published extensive research on Japanese foreign policy and East Asian relations, including Buying Power: The Political Economy of Japanese Foreign Aid and the edited collection The Challenge of Change: East Asia in the New Millennium.