Comparative Study of Japan, the US, and Australia on Civil Society Assistance toward Indonesia for Democracy Support: Rational Choice, Constructivist, and Historical Institutionalist Analysis

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K17012
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: International relations
• Research Institution: Hitotsubashi University (2016-2018); Kansai Gaidai University (2015)
• Principal Investigator: Ichihara Maiko 一橋大学, 大学院法学研究科, 准教授 (80636944)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 民主化支援 / 外交 / 日本 / 新古典的現実主義

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This research initially intended to conduct analysis on the reasons for the difference in terms of contents of democracy support to Indonesia provided by Australia, Japan, and the United States. However, the research later added Myanmar after liberalization to compare it to Indonesia, and to conduct comparative case study of democracy support activities conducted by Australia, Japan, and the United States.
While this research had three hypotheses in the beginning, it later found out the necessity of analyzing independent variables both on the international and national levels. In the end, it found out that while the shift in the international power structure led to the increase of attention to democracy support as a foreign policy tool, each donor country's past trajectory of foreign aid and their understanding of desirable path toward democratization impacted the contents of their democracy support.

Free Research Field

国際政治学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

21世紀に入り、国際的なポピュリズムの拡大に加え、中国・ロシア両政府が権威主義的統治の拡散を行ってきたことにより、自由主義的国際秩序が急速に切り崩されてきた。インドネシアとミャンマーにおける日本、豪州、米国の民主化支援に関して行った本研究は、自由主義的国際秩序を維持すべく日米豪が行う活動のうちアジアにおいて見られるものに焦点を当てたもので、同秩序維持のため各国は今後どのような活動をすることが可能かを模索する土台となった。
また、日米豪といった先進民主主義国のみならず、アジアの新興民主主義国の活動が活発化していることも判明し、日本が今後模索すべき連携先を考える上でも一助となった。