Final Lecture
Pursuing the Critical Role ofGovernment in Development

February 10, 2012
GSID, Nagoya University
Prof. KIMURA, Hirotsune

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My habit to read books started from the ageof elementary school• Reading up Collected Literary Works （世界少年少女文学全集）about
20 volumes by ES 4th grade• ES 5th grade: started reading paper backs （文庫本）• Junior High School 1st grade: collections of detectives like Sherlock
Holmes（シャーロック・ホームズ）, Arsène Lupin（アルセーヌ・ルパン）by
Maurice Leblanc （モーリス・ルブラン）, 松本清張(Matsumoto Seicho)• Junior High School 2nd grade: The Good Earth（大地） by Pearl Buck,
War and Peace etc.
• Junior High School 3rd grade: History of Japan 17 volumes, 平家物
語(Story of Heike Clan), 保元・平治物語(Story of Hogen and Heiji
Wars), historical novels of 海音寺潮五郎(Kaionji Chogoro)2Turning point was during
the Age of Senior High School• Senior High School 1st grade: 孫子(Sun Tzu)、韓非子(Hanfeizi)、孟子(Meng Zi)、荘子(Zhuang-zi)、戦国策(Stratagems of the Warring
States)、十八史略(Eighteen Abbreviated Histories of Ancient China)• I found there is an ideal job in obtaining a monthly salary by reading books.
That is to become a university professor!
• I thought that history of China was already well studied. So, peripheral
areas would be more attractive to study. The candidate at that time wasIndonesia (or Persia).
→My elder brother’s friend (university student) advised me that to study
peripheral areas, I need to study the language of that country first whilestill young. The target then was Osaka University of Foreign Studies (Dept.
of Indonesia).
→ I read the book that collected entrance exam questions of the university
and found out it was rather easy to pass in comparison with the entrance
exam of Kyoto University (except for the English language).
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Double-Truck Life Started(1) I continued my studies(a) I studied up to 3:00 a.m. almost every night.
(b) I enrolled in a cram school (塾) of English in which the teacher had worked
for 20 years in the US military camp. He had high competency in English
language.

(2) I continued my hobbies(a) Senior High School 2nd grade: History of the World（中央公論社）23 vols,
French Philosophers René Descartes (Discourse on the Method 方法序説
1637), Blaise Pascal (Penséesパンセ) were the most impressive;(b) Senior High School 3rd grade: Sigmund Freud（フロイト）、Mao Zedong(毛沢東) etc.
(c) I went to movie theaters almost every Sunday (watched about 96 movies inSH2nd);(d) I visited many Buddhist temple gardens in Kyoto where I lived;(e) I enjoyed classical music, especially Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Mozart
when I returned home to empower myself.
(f) I traveled alone to Nagano Prefecture for 10 days during summer vacation inSH2nd grade.
4The Second Turning Point was during
the Age of University•••

Indonesian language teachers were disappointing during my time. They
had no sense of social science.
On my second year, a very famous professor of international politics (岡倉古志郎 Okakura Koshiro, a grandson of 岡倉天心 Okakura Tenshin) arrived
in our university. He was well known to be a specialist of Asia and Africa.
70 students applied in his seminar. In the next year, Associate Prof.
Suyama (巣山靖司) joined the seminar. Participating students comingfrom various language departments were screened down to 15 by oral
examination. All were able and active students. I was excited and studied
hard. My field of interest changed from history to contemporary world.
Prof. Suyama’s understanding of international politics was thatinternational relations among nations are very unequal, and a nation’s
strength stems from its accumulated economic power. So, studying
individual country’s economic history and the pattern of modernization
was decisively necessary. For understanding the modernization of
economy, I studied many books of economic history on Western European
countries and Japan.
5International Politics consisting of IndividualCountry’s Political Economy
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•
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Prof. Okakura introduced me to Prof. Tanigawa (谷川栄彦) of Kyushu University(Department of Political Science, Faculty of Law). Prof. T’s standpoint was thatinternational politics consist of various nations having their own national
interests. Domestic political context decides more than half of its diplomacy.
His major research field was Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.
I was requested to leave him (Prof. T) if I just wanted to study Indonesia. I
could be with him if only I would pursue political science and international
politics, and studying Indonesia as a part of understanding international
politics of nations.
For 9 years (from 2nd year undergraduate up to whole graduate school age), I
belonged to the seminar of international politics.
When I entered the Doctor’s Program, Prof. Tanigawa requested me to help
him in publishing a book on Philippine politics after WW II. As he was thepresident of Japan Association of International Relations and later the dean of
his faculty, I wrote all but the introduction chapter. It was published in theInstitute of Developing Economies (アジア経済研究所).
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Political Structure of Contemporary Philippines, 1977, co-authored with Prof. Tanigawa
Political Structure of Contemporary Indonesia, 1989, single authored, 401pp.
The Philippines: Development, State and NGO, 1998, single authored , 261pp.
These books became the basics of my understanding of the world.

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Above the country-based studies, I also publishedContemporary Political Economy of the Worldin 1993, single authored, 325pp.

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GDP Map of the World 1987

Canada(USD Billion; % is to the US)

UK

W. GerFranceUSA

Soviet Russia

Japan

China
K
T
H

Spain

Italy

India

MexicoBrazilArgentina

Africatotal

ASEAN Aus NZ
total

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Reality of East-West
Conflict (1987)

USA

Ca Italy UK W.Ger

Total GDP of Eastern Camp was 30% of thetotal GDP of Western Camp.
Eastern Camp had nounity.
Soviet Russia

Spain FranceJapan

Jugo, E.Ger

Au, Swiss, Swe, Aus
Mex, Korea, Taiwan, Si, Ma, In

PolandIndia
Cuba

Brazil,Phi, Turkey, Middle East, S. Africa

China“Balance of Power”
was a misleading
theory.
South world was far
more inclined to theWestern Camp.

Indochina
10The Center of Asia is the USA (Renewed in 2010 MER)
(Paper presented at Hanoi Conference on East Asian Community in 2005)
S.
KOREA
USD
1,014B

CHINA
USD5,878B(41% of
ASEAN+3)

USA

JAPAN

USD14,526B≒ Total East Asian Community

TAIWA
N
430B

USD5,458B(38% of
ASEAN+3)EU
USD16,242B

238, 223, 200

Indonesia
707B

Thai
319

ASEAN10 USD1,866B (13% of ASEAN +3)
M
a

S P
i h V

Mya, Ca, Br, L (CLMV≒10% of ASEAN)

104, 45, 12,12,6

Australia USD1,237B

NZ 141B

11US Relations with East Asian Countries(1) Military relations = hub and spokes(2) Economic relations: Even PM Mahathir has realized well that without
the market of the US, Malaysia can’t develop its economy.
(3) Human relations:(a) Half a million foreign students stayed continuously in the US from the
1950s and a half of them got American nationality (= brain gain) +training of local elite (continued their relation with the US)(Conversations during international conferences were dominated by theirexperiences of studying abroad especially in the US)(b) Social culture was to upgrade its vitality by accepting immigrants: 15
million Asians in the US society in 2007= 5% of population（→America is more Asiatic than Japan）• Chinese (3.6 million), Filipinos (2.9 million), Asian Indians (2.7 million),
Vietnamese (1.6 million), Koreans (1.5 million), and Japanese (1.2 million).
Other sizable groups are Cambodians/Khmers (206,000), Pakistanis(204,000), Laotians (198,000), Hmong (186,000), and Thais (150,000).
（National Census 2006）

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Japan selected the US- Japan Alliance
as its core to respond to East Asian Community (EAC)
There were three options for Japan to take:(1) Coping with EAC as a member of US- Japan Alliance (This is the road up to
the present and the most possible road Japan will take. But if this is to be
Japan’s option, it might loose the initiative of EAC to China and this will
become a dilemma: 2005 paper of me)(2) The role of UK (United Kingdom) where the UK takes the role as thebridge between EU countries and the US as a member of EU.
(3) The Germany-France Alliance has become the core of EU especially after
they stopped the long years of antagonistic relations (Franco-Prussian War
in 1871, First and Second World War) from the 1950s. This way shows thepossibility of Japan to have an alliance with China in becoming the core of
EAC.
Japan has prioritized its relations with the US for the last 60 years after theSecond World War and it is inconceivable for Japan to jump out from its
basic standpoint of its alliance with the US towards an alliance with Asia
(especially China). Eventually, the most possible way will be thecontinuation of the present set-up.
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GSID gave me the Framework of Regional Development
The pillar of GSID education system, Overseas Field Work andDomestic Field Work, was set by Prof. Nagamine（長峰晴夫）
who had worked for 16 years at the UN Center for Regional
Development , Nagoya, and became the key person to found
GSID.
I taught for 15 years at Kumamoto University (1977-92) on 2
subjects: international politics and Japan’s politics (whichwere the major interest fields of students). As part of Japan’s
politics, I had taught local politics and development as well. I
was rather ready to Prof. N’s approach.
Local area was the real field, where people in their traditional life
are affected by development aspects. With this thought, I
proposed to Prof. N to go to the Philippines, where theCalabarzon development was a hot issue for Japan’s ODA.
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Field Research in CARABARZON for a year gave me theconfidence to further my development direction
I bought a second-hand Nissan
car and hired a skilled driver. I
visited many places andinterviewed 250 persons fromvarious fields: government,
academia, NGO, peasant
movement, journalists, priests,
farmers, laborers, etc.)
My local counterpart was Assoc.
Professor Romeo Obedoza of
UP Los Banos, who introduced
me to many people, though I
have several sources.
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Government takes the decisive role in development andthe number one role of government is economic development(1) Government takes the decisive role in development.
(2) NGO activities are complementary even though the Philippines isknown to have well developed NGO network (I visited many NGOs
from the 2,000 believed to be having good records at that time).
(3) Regional development has 2 faces:(a) top-down central-government led regional development as partof nation-wide development in which the core is industrializationof local cities.
(b) bottom-up community-based development within theframework of participatory development where NGOs are one of
the stakeholders.
(4) People’s income raising activities highly depended upon national
level economic development. Example was sandal makers. Theirproduction depends upon the total sales in Manila shops in agiven time.
16Real Desire of Villagers is Infrastructure Building(1) Villagers want to give their children a higher education career forgetting better employment opportunities. But, without having aroad, they can’t send the children to a junior high school in town.
(2) At the time of child’s disease, villagers want to take the child totown’s clinic but without having road, it is difficult. They need towalk for 2 hours to reach the clinic as a group for safety reason.
(3) Villagers must sell their products directly in town’s market and lookfor job(sub-contract) opportunities. Otherwise, they have to follow
middleman’s price for their products and sub-contract conditions
while staying in their village.
(4) Number one problem of the poor is how to overcome social
isolation. For the poor to have some form of association, they needto connect with local NGOs. And this connection needs road, carsand communication networks as well.
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The publication of the Introduction
to International Development
Studies by GSID staffs, as part ofaccountability of GSID to thegeneral public, was my long years’
dream.
It was the result of JSPS Research
Project (Inter-disciplinary
Construction of Development
Studies, 2005-2007) that I
organized.
But, without getting the initiativeof Prof. Otsubo Shigeru (大坪滋),
the publication would not haverealized.

In this book, we proposed “multidisciplinary network studies.”18

We set 3 core subjects.

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As part of multi-disciplinary development
studies, I was able to publish another bookon development politics. For writing thebook, I successfully mobilized young
generation of researchers.
Among them, vise-editor Prof. Kondo and
Dr. Kobayashi, a JICA research institute staff
for governance, are the leading academics
in the governance field in Japan Society forInternational Development.
Other contributors are Dr. Sato from MOFA,
Dr. Oyamada, former staff of UNDP andWorld Bank (now Assoc. Professor of
Doshisha University), specialist of politicalparty Dr. Kanamaru, and specialists ofpeace building and governance assistance,
Dr. Nishikawa of DICOS and Dr. Sugiura.
With that book, we developed acomprehensive analysis on the role ofgovernment in development.
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We were fortunate to ride on the wave focusing upon theimportance of governance among international organizations
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Kofi Annan, former UN Secretary-General (1997-2006), has under-scored that
“good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating
poverty and promoting development.”“Democratic governance is central to the achievement of the MDGs, as it provides
the enabling environment for the realization of the MDGs and, in particular, theelimination of poverty.” (UNDP website, governance)
There is broad consensus in the donor community that one of the key obstacles toachieving the MDGs is poor governance; poverty reduction can not be achieved
without a policy and institutional environment which facilitates growth. To mostdonors top of the list of indicators of poor governance is corruption. (OECD, 2005)
Our Common Interest: Report of the Commission for Africa (2005) wrote, “Onething underlies all the difficulties caused by the interactions of Africa’s history overthe past 40 years. It is the weakness of governance and the absence of an effective
state.”DFID (British Department for International Development) wrote in its White Paper(Eliminating world poverty: Making governance work for the poor, 2006), “Effective
states are central to development. They protect people’s rights and provide
security, economic growth and services like education and health care” (p. 21).

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Looking for theNew
Paradigm
based upon
the criticalrole ofgovernment

The major problem isthe implementation
ability of soundpublic policies.
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The Problem Now is How to Build an “Effective State”• “The primary obstacles of development are administrative
rather than economic.”• “Development administration, synonymous with bureaucracy,
is a midwife of development.”• “The state’s ability depends on the bureaucracy being a
corporately coherent entity. (Peter Evans)• The bureaucracy might be inefficient, but it plays a key role instabilizing the political economy of the nation.
• The problem is how to gather a certain part of the “best andbrightest” people of a nation into government.
• But, at the same time, the actual operation of administration
depends upon politics. Politics shapes states, and states shapedevelopment.
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This book was produced by mobilizing
international academic networks of Kimura.

It analyzed that, in reality, how governanceis implemented in various countries. The
result was rather pessimistic.
The conclusion of this book is as follows:
In implementing good governance, somepublic policies can be pursued incoordination with the present power
holders in central and local governments ofdeveloping countries. But some public
policies will be difficult within the present
political economy that is grass-rooted invested interest of power holders. In thatcase, pursuing good governance will
become a tough work and requires muchtime.
So, how to tackle the problem?
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My understanding of “Aged Life” changed dramatically after
reading 15 or so books concerning that.
Six years from 65 to 70 years old are believed to be
the golden age

There is still much time to use. My saving is all right.
Physical conditions and brain are still active.
I can concentrate more in studying without being
bothered by administrative chores and students. For
example, Prof. Shinobu Seizaburo (信夫清三郎) publisheda book every two years after retirement.
I can travel a lot to various foreign and domestic areas.
I plan to travel every month from now on.
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I have been very happy to be
surrounded bymany qualified students
throughout my career life!

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Thank You for Your Attention!

Road is there but the target is distantRoad from khiva to Buhara, Uzbekistan

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Good-Bye

Yakushima: World Natural Heritage Island
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