The Rise of Asian Donors ─ Japan's Impact on the Evolution of Emerging Donors

Why do poor countries give aid to others? This book critically examines how aspirations for providing aid have coexisted with experiences of receiving aid and have transformed the practice of giving aid, with particular reference to the experiences of Japan and China. It highlights the historical sources that explain the pattern and strength of foreign aid that these new donors provide.

The book has systematically examined the situation unique to middle income countries that are receiving and giving aid simultaneously. It sheds light on the endogenous elements embedded in the socio-economic conditions of emerging donors, as well as their learning process as aid recipients. This book examines not only the perspectives of recipients, but also those of donors: Japan in the case of China, and the USA and the World Bank in the case of Japan. By bringing in the donor’s perspective, we come to a holistic understanding of foreign aid as a product of interaction between the various agents involved. The book provides not only an in-depth case study of Japan from a historical perspective, but also stretches its scope to cover contemporary debates on "emerging donors," including China, India and Korea who have received substantial amount of aid from Japan in the past. This book connects the often separated discussion of Japanese aid and the way it developed in relation to outside forces.

In short, this book represents the first attempt to empirically examine the "life of a donor" with a clear focus on the origins, struggles, and futures of non-western donors and their impact on established aid regime.

Jin Sato is Associate Professor at the Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia at the University of Tokyo. He focuses on natural resource governance, foreign aid, and disaster response with a geographical emphasis on Southeast Asia and Japan. He held visiting appointments at the Agrarian Studies Program of Yale University (1998–99) and Project on Democracy and Development at Princeton University (2010–11). He holds a Masters Degree from the Kennedy School at Harvard, and a PhD in international studies from the University of Tokyo.

Yasutami Shimomura is Professor Emeritus at Hosei University, Tokyo. He has had much experience with development work, as a former staff of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Fund and a former member of the Board of the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. He holds an MBA from Columbia University. His publications include The Role of Governance in Asia and Aid Relationship in Asia (with Alf Jerve and Annette Hansen).