SRID Journal vol.30 Contents
About the SRID Journal
About the SRID Journal The SRID Journal is an open, intellectual platform through which we seek to share original, sometimes experimental, ideas on the nature and practice of international development with a global audience. It is not intended as a conventional academic journal. …
Editorial Foreword
At the Turning Point of History: Confronting the Transformation of World Civilization We stand at a dawn that is also a fault line. Beneath our feet, the strata of the old world—orderly progress, stable alliances, linear causality—are fracturing, while before us rise waves that resist mastery through simplification. …
Revisited Contributions (Opening Essays, Editorials, Insights, and Reports, 2013–2025)
Vol.4（2013）FUKUDA: Global Trends 2030 This article critically examines the “Global Trends 2030” report produced by the U.S. National Intelligence Council (NIC), by focusing on its methodology of analyzing interacting structural forces rather than merely extrapolating existing trends. …
Vol.5（2014）OHNO: Japan’s Development Cooperation in New Era ～Promoting “Collaborative Partnerships”～ This article examines how Japan’s development cooperation must adapt to a transformed global landscape in which development challenges, actors, and financial flows have become increasingly diversified. It argues that traditional …
Vol.15（2018）UESUGI: Timor-Leste: State-Building from Multi-layered Conflicts This article analyzes state-building in Timor-Leste by examining how multi-layered conflicts and their distinct causes shaped post-conflict governance. Rather than viewing the country’s trajectory as a straightforward transition from conflict …
Vol.16（2019）ITO: Whereto? Belt and Road Initiative This essay critically examines the evolution of China’s Belt and Road Initiative five years after its launch, focusing on its economic rationale, political implications, and unresolved challenges. While enhanced connectivity through infrastructure …
Vol.17（2019）OSHIMA: Diversifying Africa and Japan’s Contributions This essay examines Africa’s growing diversity and Japan’s role amid intensifying international engagement surrounding the TICAD initiative. While many African countries have achieved sustained growth and greater political stability, persistent …
Vol.18（2020）ISHII: Global Commons in Anthropocene This essay argues that humanity has entered the “Anthropocene,” an era in which economic activity has become a dominant force shaping planetary systems that underpin human prosperity. Climate, biodiversity, soils, oceans, and …
Vol.19（2020）TAKAHASHI: COVID-19 Pandemic as Compounded Crises and Dawn of a New Global Civilization This essay regards the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for a compounded global crisis capable of reshaping international order and civilization itself. Drawing on historical cases where epidemics intersected with war, economic disruption, and …
Vol.20（2021）EMA: What Emerged at French-German-Japanese AI Symposium Challenges and Prospects for Future Artificial Intelligence (AI) This article reviews the evolution of international debates on artificial intelligence (AI) through insights gained from the second France-Germany-Japan AI Symposium held in 2020. Comparing the discussions this time with those of 2018, …
Vol.22（2022）YAMAOKA: Decarbonization and International Development Cooperation This article reframes decarbonization not as a narrowly defined environmental policy, but as a structural transformation shaped by the interaction of global political economy, industrial competition, and the persistent gap between …
Vol.23（2022）TAKEMOTO & KATO: Looming Crisis of Global Environment and Prospects for Overseas Environmental Development Cooperation This article examines the escalating global environmental crisis and the evolving role of international environmental development cooperation. Drawing on the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report, it argues that climate change now affects natural …
Vol.24（2023）MINATO: Destabilization and Crisis of Global Economic Order This article examines the growing instability of the global economic order and its implications for emerging and developing economies. It argues that climate change, intensifying geopolitical rivalry, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the war in Ukraine …
Vol.25（2023）ASANUMA: Arrival of “Unpleasant Era” and New ODA Charter This essay examines Japan’s revised Official Development Assistance (ODA) Charter against the backdrop of a deteriorating global environment marked by pandemics, geopolitical rivalry, climate change, and economic instability. The …
Vol.26（2024）TAKAHASHI: Global Society Ravaged by Armed Conflicts Developing World Torn between Self-centered Nationalism and Solidarity This article analyzes how escalating armed conflicts and geopolitical rivalries are reshaping strategic behaviors of developing countries. It argues that wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, combined with economic fragility, mass …
Vol.26（2024）HAYASHI: Is there still any point in talking about SDGs? This article critically reassesses the relevance of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in an era marked by intensifying geopolitical conflict and the erosion of international cooperation. Tracing the shift from a coordination-oriented global …
Vol.27（2024）KODERA: In an Era of “Guns over Butter,” What Should Japan Do to Reduce Poverty among People in Low-Income Countries? This essay analyzes major changes affecting global political economy and development aid. They include aggravating income disparities, increase in defense spending and the diversion and fragmentation of aid, enduring violent non-state actors …
Vol.27（2024）KANDA: Upon Completing 6th SRID Forum This article reviews the fifty-year trajectory of the Society of Researchers for International Development (SRID) since its establishment in 1974, vis-à-vis broader shifts of Japan’s development cooperation policy and global aid …
Vol.28（2025）TAKAHASHI: Global Subsidiarity, An Integrated Approach to Overcoming the Middle-Income Trap: A New Attempt in the Age Characterized by Division and National Egocentrism in the World While theoretically there are three possible approaches to overcoming traps of middle-income countries (economic, economic and social welfare, and integration of economic, social and political dimensions), we do not have any other real option …
Vol.28（2025）TAMAKI: The Middle-Income Trap: Lessons from the World Bank Report The World Bank’s World Development Report 2024 (WDR2024) provides a clear and comprehensive analysis of countries’ economic development pathways, with a particular emphasis on strategies for escaping from the “middle-income trap.” …
Vol.29（2025）YAMADA: From Vertical Donor-Recipient Relationship to Horizontal Partnership: The Changing Japan-Africa Relations This paper explores the evolving Japan–Africa relationship, shifting from a vertical aid-based model to a more reciprocal, horizontal partnership. Reviewing over 30 years of TICAD, it highlights Africa’s growing agency, increased private investment, …
Vol.29（2025）HANAI: Intensification of Eastern Congo Conflict and Problematic Peace Agreement In June 2025, Congo and Rwanda reached a peace agreement. This agreement fails to address the issues underlying the eastern Congo conflict. These include Rwanda government’s ambitions, Congo government’s disregard for its citizens …