ABSTRACT
Given Japan’s status as the world’s top aid donor, attention is now focusing on how Japan will play its part in international management of foreign aid. The ‘leadership’ tag is bandied about frequently, and there is considerable debate within Japan itself about what its aid contribution should be and where it is going. This chapter takes up these questions, exploring the potential for a viable Japanese role in global aid leadership and the contribution foreign aid might make, if any, to Japanese participation in global leadership. We begin with some general considerations of the concept of leadership and then move to discuss, in turn, five policy areas that are central to the future of Japan’s foreign aid leadership.
