Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This paper examines how intensifying great power competition has influenced the evolution of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) policy in recent years in terms of the principles, priorities, and distributional patterns of Japanese aid.

Paper long abstract

This paper examines how intensifying great power competition has influenced the evolution of Japan’s Official Development Assistance (ODA) policy in recent years. Rather than centering on discursive shifts or normative debates, the study focuses on how strategic rivalry, most notably in the context of U.S.–China competition, has shaped the principles, priorities, and distributional patterns of Japanese aid. The core question guiding the paper is how competition-related considerations are reflected in the material organization of ODA.

The paper approaches Japanese ODA as a foreign policy instrument whose role and configuration have evolved alongside changing regional and global power dynamics. It directs attention to three interrelated dimensions. First, it examines changes in official policy frameworks and guiding principles that have structured aid provision since the mid-2010s. Second, it explores shifts in sectoral priorities, with particular attention to infrastructure, connectivity, and capacity-building initiatives. Third, it analyzes evolving geographical and country-level allocations to assess whether aid patterns increasingly correspond to strategic competition dynamics.

Methodologically, the paper proposes an analysis over time of Japanese ODA policy and aid patterns from the mid-2010s onward. Particular attention is paid to whether recent geopolitical developments, including heightened U.S.–China rivalry and the post-Ukraine war context, have reinforced, redirected, or accelerated existing trends in Japan’s aid policy. As a work in progress, the study aims to identify emerging patterns and clarify analytical expectations rather than present finalized empirical conclusions. By examining how great power competition intersects with the sectoral and geographical architecture of Japanese ODA, this paper contributes to broader discussions on foreign aid, strategic rivalry, and Japan’s evolving role in regional and global order-building.

Send message to Authors

Paper short abstract

This paper aims to move beyond a simple descriptive account of Japan-Poland partnership to offer a nuanced, theoretically-informed analysis of its underlying drivers, its multi-faceted manifestations, and its broader implications for the future of the rules-based international order.

Paper long abstract

The international security landscape has undergone a dramatic transformation, characterized

by the erosion of established norms and the rise of geopolitical competition. In this context,

the traditional geographical boundaries of security are becoming increasingly blurred. In this evolving context,

the strategic convergence between Japan and Poland—two middle powers geographically

separated by thousands of kilometers but ideologically aligned—presents a compelling case

study, especially given their bilateral plan of action released in 2025. This paper aims to move beyond a simple descriptive account of their growing partnership to offer a nuanced, theoretically-informed analysis of its underlying drivers, its multi-faceted manifestations, and its broader implications for the future of the

rules-based international order. This research paper seeks to answer a core question: How has

the strategic convergence between Japan and Poland, precipitated by the war in Ukraine,

evolved to include the domains of cyber defense, technology, and maritime security?

The central argument of this research is that the post-February 2022 strategic convergence

between Japan and Poland is not a novel creation. Instead, it represents a powerful re-

activation and institutionalization of a strategic alignment against belligerent powers enabled

by systemic shifts in the liberal international order. This convergence, while indisputably

catalyzed by the immediate material threat of Russia's aggression, is fundamentally enabled

by a shared strategic identity and is amplified by a mutual recognition of the inseparability of

Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific security. To understand the strategic convergence between

Japan and Poland, this research will employ a neoclassical realist framework, which provides

a powerful tool for analyzing the directions of Japanese and Polish foreign policies towards

strategic alignment.

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

This paper will holistically approach Japan’s responses to the COVID-19 Pandemic through the lens of international relations and medical diplomacy, central-local relationship in public health administration, the role of scientists in public policy, and economic interests and public health.

Paper long abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic brought havoc to the globe. Japan’s responses to this crisis took shape in the overlaying contexts of its diplomatic relations amid the rising Sino-U.S. rivalry, domestic political jockeying at both national and sub-national levels, and the tension among the medical, scientific, economic, and political communities. While Japan’s relative success in containing the infections is apparent in international statistical comparisons, evaluation of its policy is both complex and incomplete, as the country struggled to ride over the waves of infections.

This paper will holistically approach Japan’s responses to the pandemic through the lens of international relations and medical diplomacy, central-local relationship in public health administration, the role of scientists in public policy, and economic interests and public health. The complex coordination among conflicting interests yields a picture of compromises and inconsistencies, making the country’s “success” puzzling at glance. However, the paper further attempts to comprehend the complexity through an interdisciplinary, complex system approach, integrating political, economic, and public health administration analyses into one systemic analysis.

Send message to Author

Paper short abstract

The paper aims to examine the preferences and interests underpinning the Japan-EU partnership. It will then proceed to assessment of capacity to fulfil expectations and designs on mutual cooperation and finally to judge other important powers’ perceptions of developing EU-Japan partnership.

Paper long abstract

In the XXIst Century’s third decade the international order is experiencing important shifts. Great power rivalry, rise of new forms of economic statecraft and domestic political shocks affecting numerous states, are all contributing to a crisis of the so-called Liberal Rules Based International Order. This reality forces these international actors which have aligned their foreign, economic and security polices most closely with this longstanding form of international order to rethink their strategy and look or both new solutions and partners to implement them. Both Japan and European Union benefited from the post-Cold War Rules-Based International Order and relied (although to a different degree) on their partnership with United States. Current geopolitical and geoeconomic shifts rise serious challenges regarding continued effectiveness of such an approach.

This international reality provides an important context for deepening partnership between Japan and European Union. Both actors are simultaneously grappling with serious tensions and conflicts in their respective neighbourhoods, challenges in dealing with shifts in US policy and evolving character of the global economy. The paper aims to examine the preferences and interests underpinning this partnership from perspective of both EU’s and Japan’s foreign policy strategy to asses the degree of compatibility between both actors’ values, interests and strategic designs. It will then proceed to assessment of European and Japanese capacity to fulfil expectations and designs on mutual cooperation and finally to judge other important powers’ perceptions of developing EU-Japan partnership.