Suchergebnisse

Japan has emerged in recent years as a leading donor country to African countries. At one level, Japan's renewed assertiveness in providing foreign aid to Africa is on par with the more active approach by other donor countries. Some might argue that Japan's motivations to lend capital and technical assistance to African countries are shared by all lending countries. However, I argue that Japan's official development policy and, in particular, the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) process, seek to break away from the acceptance of the Washington consensus and to demonstrate Japan's particular leadership position in the donor community. Rather than to focus on domestic bureaucratic politics to explain Japanese ODA or on the specific targets of foreign aid, this paper seeks to identify the basic features of Japanese national identity that explain its aid policy to Africa. These features will be highlighted through an analysis of the TICAD process. Taken as a whole, the TICAD process represents the Japanese government's response to perceived inroads by globalization and neoliberal economic ideology. But TICAD is more than a simple response to complex global forces. Japan's foreign aid policy draws extensively from the so-called Asian development model as Japan hopes to influence African societies. Moreover, by carving out a developmental niche away from the conventional World Bank pattern of financial assistance, Japan also hopes to highlight its global strategic position as it seeks to have greater influence in Africa and other developing regions.

This study empirically investigates how economic integration influences individuals' national identity. Due to historical reasons and unique cross-strait politics, some people in Taiwan identify themselves as Chinese while others identify themselves as Taiwanese. Using individual survey data with the outward investment data at the industry level from 1992 to 2009, we find that the rising investment in China has strengthened Taiwanese identity and has reduced the probability of voting for the Pan-Blue parties. The effects are much stronger for unskilled workers than for skilled workers, suggesting that outward investment in China may not only have economic impact on the economy but may also deepen the political polarization in Taiwan.

This study empirically investigates how economic integration influences individuals' national identity. Due to historical reasons and unique cross-strait politics, some people in Taiwan identify themselves as Chinese while others identify themselves as Taiwanese. Using individual survey data with the outward investment data at the industry level from 1992 to 2009, we find that the rising investment in China has strengthened Taiwanese identity and has reduced the probability of voting for the Pan-Blue parties. The effects are much stronger for unskilled workers than for skilled workers, suggesting that outward investment in China may not only have economic impact on the economy but may also deepen the political polarization in Taiwan.

"How can we maintain a strong national identity without going too far? Having pride in one's country, its history and values, is important, but what happens when that is threatened by new immigrant groups? When a country becomes more diverse, whether it's race, ethnicity, or religious faith, does the nation's identity expand to accommodate those changes or does it become more rigid, setting the stage for an "us" and "them" conflict? Through diverse perspectives from countries around the world, this volume explores facets of national identity-its purpose, its benefits and dangers, and its future in a changing world"--