This article evaluates Japanese foreign aid policy in light of the World Commission on Environment and Development's concept of sustainable development by focusing on Japanese official development assistance (ODA) to energy sectors in the global South. The analysis reported here finds two fundamental weaknesses in Japanese ODA policy on the energy sector: first, its premise of the compatibility of economic growth with environmental sustainability and, second, its heavy reliance on modern science. As an alternative, this article suggests a policy of promoting small and decentralized renewable energy technology.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Alvares, C. (1992). Science, colonialism and violence: A Luddite view. In A. Nandy (Ed.), Science, hegemony and violence: A requiem for modernity (pp. 68-112). New York: Oxford University Press.
2.
Bazin, M. (1986, July/August). The technological mystique and Third World options. Monthly Review, pp. 98-109.
3.
Chafy, R. (1997). Confronting the culture of progress in the 21st century. Futures, 29(7), 633-648.
4.
Daly, H. (1998). Sustainable growth: An impossibility theorem. In J. S. Dryzek & D. Schlosberg(Eds.), Debating the earth: The environmental policies reader (pp. 285-289). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Elliott, J. A. (2001). An introduction to sustainable development. London: Routledge.
7.
Esteva, G. (1992). Development. In W. Sachs (Ed.), The development dictionary: A guide to knowledge as power (pp. 6-25). Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zen Books.
International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Union-Asia/Pacific Region. (2001). Country report: Indonesia. Retrieved January 27, 2003, from http://www.icemap.org/rs-en01-co-id.htm
Japan Center for Sustainable Environment and Society. (1998). JACSES briefing paper series: Sustainable development and international cooperation No. 7—Japanese ODA and climate change. Retrieved January 27, 2003, from http://www.jacses.org/sdap/infoservice/bps/bps07.htm
15.
Komori, Y. (2002). Reconsideration of ODA. Tokyo: PHP.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (1999c). Japan's ODA: Annual report 1999—Reference 8: History of Japan's assistance to developing countries (1945-1999). Retrieved March 16, 2003, from http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/summary/1999/ref8.html
20.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (1999d). Japan's ODA: Annual report 1999—Reference 2.II. Japan's medium-term policy on official development assistance: Priority issues and sectors. Retrieved February 6, 2003, from http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/oda/summary/1999/ref2_02.html
21.
Onimode, B. (1988). A political economy of the African crisis.Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books.
22.
Pavcnik, N. (2003). What explains skill upgrading in less developed countries? Journal of Development Economics, 934, 1-18.
23.
Redclift, M. (1984). Development and the environmental crisis: Red or green alternative? New York: Methuen.
24.
Rostow, W. (1960). The stages of economic growth: A non-communist manifesto. New York: Cambridge University Press.
25.
Shiva, V. (1992). The violence of the green revolution: Third World agriculture, ecology and politics. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Zed Books.
World Commission on Environment and Development. (1987). Our common future. New York: Oxford University Press.
29.
Zhou, A., & Byrne, J. (2002). Renewable energy for rural sustainability: Lessons from China. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 22(2), 123-131.
