Este trabalho busca estudar a alocação da assistência oficial para o desenvolvimento (ODA) do Japão no período de 1961 a 2015. A Agência de Cooperação Internacional Japonesa (JICA) tem apontado como motivações da ajuda externa o desenvolvimento econômico e a redução da pobreza em países menos desenvolvidos. A literatura em Relações Internacionais, no entanto, enxerga com ceticismo que os valores humanitários sejam, por si só, determinantes do nível de generosidade do doador, apontando para a importância de elementos domésticos, de fatores normativos internacionais e de considerações político-estratégicas na explicação dos programas de ajuda. Utilizando análise regressiva, esta pesquisa buscará evidências empíricas da importância relativa de diferentes variáveis explicativas da ajuda externa japonesa. Os resultados mostram que os interesses econômicos e político-estratégicos exercem maior influência sobre o programa de assistência do Japão que o nível de pobreza ou o regime democrático nos países beneficiários. Nossas estimativas indicam, ainda, que o Japão tende a concentrar a ajuda em países em desenvolvimento de renda relativamente mais alta, menos populosos e com menores índices de corrupção. / The purpose of this research is to study Japan\'s official development assistance (ODA) between 1961 and 2015. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has cited economic development and poverty reduction in less-developed countries as reasons for providing external aid. However, literature on International Relations is skeptical of humanitarian motives being, on their own, the determinants of donor\'s level of generosity, pointing out the influence of domestic aspects, international statutes, and political and strategical considerations on explaining aid programs. By using regressive analysis, this research will look for empirical evidence of the relative significance of different variables that explain Japanese external aid. The results show that economic and political-strategic interests exert more influence over Japan\'s assistance program than the level of poverty or democratic regime in the beneficiary countries. Our estimates also show that Japan tends to focus aid on relatively higher income developing countries, less populous countries and countries with lower levels of corruption.

Este trabalho busca estudar a alocação da assistência oficial para o desenvolvimento (ODA) do Japão no período de 1961 a 2015. A Agência de Cooperação Internacional Japonesa (JICA) tem apontado como motivações da ajuda externa o desenvolvimento econômico e a redução da pobreza em países menos desenvolvidos. A literatura em Relações Internacionais, no entanto, enxerga com ceticismo que os valores humanitários sejam, por si só, determinantes do nível de generosidade do doador, apontando para a importância de elementos domésticos, de fatores normativos internacionais e de considerações político-estratégicas na explicação dos programas de ajuda. Utilizando análise regressiva, esta pesquisa buscará evidências empíricas da importância relativa de diferentes variáveis explicativas da ajuda externa japonesa. Os resultados mostram que os interesses econômicos e político-estratégicos exercem maior influência sobre o programa de assistência do Japão que o nível de pobreza ou o regime democrático nos países beneficiários. Nossas estimativas indicam, ainda, que o Japão tende a concentrar a ajuda em países em desenvolvimento de renda relativamente mais alta, menos populosos e com menores índices de corrupção. / The purpose of this research is to study Japan\'s official development assistance (ODA) between 1961 and 2015. Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has cited economic development and poverty reduction in less-developed countries as reasons for providing external aid. However, literature on International Relations is skeptical of humanitarian motives being, on their own, the determinants of donor\'s level of generosity, pointing out the influence of domestic aspects, international statutes, and political and strategical considerations on explaining aid programs. By using regressive analysis, this research will look for empirical evidence of the relative significance of different variables that explain Japanese external aid. The results show that economic and political-strategic interests exert more influence over Japan\'s assistance program than the level of poverty or democratic regime in the beneficiary countries. Our estimates also show that Japan tends to focus aid on relatively higher income developing countries, less populous countries and countries with lower levels of corruption.

This paper discusses whether the allocation of Swedish aid is dependent on absolute or relative poverty, and whether there is any difference in this respect between ODA and aid distributed through officially funded NGO’s. Given the Millennium Development Goals, and their overarching goal of halving extreme poverty by 2015, we should expect the aid allocation to be determined by absolute rather than relative poverty. We use OLS to estimate multiple linear regressions. We find that Swedish ODA has an absolute poverty focus, while the Swedish NGO aid rather seems to be concentrated on relative poverty.

Developing countries are dependent upon foreign capital since they lack adequate domestic means to save and invest in order to grow and develop. This thesis aims to evaluate the role of foreign capital inflows in enhancing economic growth in a sample of 90 developing countries between the years 1991 and 2006. Even though FDI is recognized as the most attractive key in economic development strategies, numerous international help organizations call for increased ODA flows since many developing countries do not seem to benefit from FDI. This study will closely look into the issue where FDI and ODA are incorporated into the same model to identify the different effects they bring upon economic growth. Is capital given by the altruistic intention to assist developing nations in the form of ODA more beneficial than capital given through FDI by Multi-National Corporations (MNC) with their egoistic profit-seeking incentives, in the matter of enhancing economic growth? The obtained results from our cross-sectional OLS-regression are coherent with previous studies where FDI promotes economic growth, while ODA has a negative impact. This implies that FDI do actually play a more important role in developing countries than ODA in increasing growth in GDP per capita.

The thesis describes the evolution of development co-operation in CR and Portugal, compares impacts of the membership in the EU on the development co-operation systems, answers the question if there is any convergence between development policies and territorial priorities. Further analyses position of NGOs in two countries and their possibility to influence development policy of the government.

The thesis deals with the well - known affair of the top ODA politician and the Minister of Justice Jan Kalvoda, who resigned from all his public positions in 1996 and left the top politics. Using the method of critical analysis, the work focuses on the resonance of this act in the articles of large domestic newspapers Právo and Lidové noviny and examines how the phenomenon, which until then had no parallel in Czech politics, was approached. Part of the work is a brief look at the development of the Civic Democratic Alliance, its top personalities and achievements during Kalvod's presidency, a medallion about Jan Kalvod, the main research evaluation of selected newspaper articles that began immediately after Kalvoda's resignation and culminated in the composition of his party as chairman in 1997. The whole work was written primarily on the basis of book sources dealing with ODA and subsequently through the study of major newspaper articles from the period 1996-97. Each chapter of the research part ends with the results and in the very conclusion there is a reflection on the whole case through the eyes of the author and its comparison with other political affairs.

No description available.

No description available.

Depuis quelque temps, au Japon, on utilise de plus en plus le terme « Kansaï » pour désigner la région du Kinki (littéralement « le voisinage de la capitale »). Cette thèse propose d’analyser l’émergence de cette entité régionale et de son discours culturel dans le but de pallier le manque de recherches antérieures sur la diversité socioculturelle et le régionalisme au Japon. Il y existe, d’une part, une volonté de considérer le Japon comme une entité homogène, et d’autre part, un contexte dans lequel le Japon lui-même prône l’homogénéité de son peuple. Historiquement, ces énoncés ont été réfutés à plusieurs reprises par différents chercheurs et organismes. Entre-temps, sur le plan régional, la diversité devient de moins en moins clairement observable dû à l’urbanisation, aux moyens de transport, à la migration interne et au développement des médias de masse. Cette situation à l'époque post-industrielle a engendré aujourd’hui le discours régionaliste du Kansaï. Dans ce contexte, cette étude porte spécifiquement sur le discours culturel concernant la région et la population du Kansaï, c’est-à-dire la région Kinki, où étaient situés les anciennes capitales et le berceau de l’État japonais du Yamato. On observe une modification et une transformation de cette région depuis l’époque Tokugawa. À partir de l’époque Meiji, l'intégration spatiale de l’archipel japonais est devenue indissociable de l’émergence de l’État soi-disant « moderne ». En outre, une distinction existe toujours entre le Japon de l’Ouest (Kansaï) et le Japon de l’Est (Kantō) qui repose sur des différences de coutumes et de mentalités, ainsi que sur des variations linguistiques : une dichotomie mieux représentée de nos jours par l’opposition entre les villes d’Osaka et de Tokyo. Aujourd’hui, le Japon permettre une centralisation continuelle à Tokyo et l’équilibre du pouvoir sur le plan économique s’en trouve fragilisé. Dans cette thèse, j’examine l’émergence de l’entité Kansaï dans ce contexte socio-économique, depuis l’arrivée du phénomène que les Kansaïens appellent « l’affaissement de terrain » du Kansaï, le jibanchinka, jusqu’aux revendications récentes pour l’introduction d’un système quasi-fédéraliste, le dōshū-sei, dans le contexte du développement régional déséquilibré du pays. En m'appuyant sur mon enquête effectuée sur terrain auprès des gens du Kansaï, je soutiens que leur discours régionaliste est bel et bien existant, mais ne repose pas sur l’homogénéité de la région. Il repose plutôt sur la position du Kansaï en tant qu’antithèse à la tendance centralisatrice perçue par les Kansaïens comme étant plutôt de nature tokyoïte. Leur discours met l’accent sur la diversité existant à l’intérieur même de la région tout en soulignant que celle-ci constitue l’entité kansaïenne. Mots-clés : Japon, Kinki, Kansai, Osaka, Nihonjinron, région, villes, discours culturel, État-nation, multiculturalisme, Oda Sakunosuke, Tanizaki Jun’ichiro. / In recent times, we hear more and more the word "Kansai" to designate the Japanese region of Kinki (literally ‘the neighborhood of the capital’). This thesis proposes to analyze the emergence of this regional entity and its cultural discourse to compensate for the lack of previous research on the socio-cultural variety and the regionalism of Japan. In the current situation, on one hand, some wish to consider Japan as a homogenous entity, and on the other hand, Japan it-self considers its people as homogenous. Historically, these views were refuted several times by researchers and organisms. In the meantime, the regional variation becomes less and less clearly observable because of the urbanization, the progress made in transportation systems, the internal migration and the development of mass media. It is in this post-industrial era however that the regionalist discourse of Kansaï emerged. In this context, this study focuses on the cultural discourse regarding the region and the people of Kansai, that is the Kinki region, where were situated the old capitals and the cradle of the Yamato state, and on which one observes an alteration and a transformation of its description starting at the Tokugawa era. Since Meiji era, the spatial integration of the Japanese archipelago has become inseparable from the emergence of the so-called "modern" state. In addition, a division between Western Japan (Kansai) and Eastern Japan continues to exist for their differences in customs, linguistic variations and mentality: a dichotomy better represented by the current opposition between the cities of Osaka and Tokyo. Today, Japan experiences a continual centralization around Tokyo and the balance of power on the economic level is being undermined. I examine the emergence of the Kansai entity by analyzing its economic and social context, from the arrival of the phenomenon the Kansaï people call jibanchinka (the "land subsidence" of Kansaï) until the recent demands for the introduction of a quasi-federalism system called dōshū-sei in the context of unbalanced regional development of Japan. Resting on my investigation carried out in Kansai, I argue that their regionalist aspiration exists, but does not stand for the homogeneity of the region as a whole. Rather, they ground on its position as an antithesis to the centralizing approach they perceive as being rather Tokyoite in nature. Their discourse inevitably emphasizes the variety existing within the region itself, while underlining the fact that this is what constitutes the Kansai.

Depuis quelque temps, au Japon, on utilise de plus en plus le terme « Kansaï » pour désigner la région du Kinki (littéralement « le voisinage de la capitale »). Cette thèse propose d’analyser l’émergence de cette entité régionale et de son discours culturel dans le but de pallier le manque de recherches antérieures sur la diversité socioculturelle et le régionalisme au Japon. Il y existe, d’une part, une volonté de considérer le Japon comme une entité homogène, et d’autre part, un contexte dans lequel le Japon lui-même prône l’homogénéité de son peuple. Historiquement, ces énoncés ont été réfutés à plusieurs reprises par différents chercheurs et organismes. Entre-temps, sur le plan régional, la diversité devient de moins en moins clairement observable dû à l’urbanisation, aux moyens de transport, à la migration interne et au développement des médias de masse. Cette situation à l'époque post-industrielle a engendré aujourd’hui le discours régionaliste du Kansaï. Dans ce contexte, cette étude porte spécifiquement sur le discours culturel concernant la région et la population du Kansaï, c’est-à-dire la région Kinki, où étaient situés les anciennes capitales et le berceau de l’État japonais du Yamato. On observe une modification et une transformation de cette région depuis l’époque Tokugawa. À partir de l’époque Meiji, l'intégration spatiale de l’archipel japonais est devenue indissociable de l’émergence de l’État soi-disant « moderne ». En outre, une distinction existe toujours entre le Japon de l’Ouest (Kansaï) et le Japon de l’Est (Kantō) qui repose sur des différences de coutumes et de mentalités, ainsi que sur des variations linguistiques : une dichotomie mieux représentée de nos jours par l’opposition entre les villes d’Osaka et de Tokyo. Aujourd’hui, le Japon permettre une centralisation continuelle à Tokyo et l’équilibre du pouvoir sur le plan économique s’en trouve fragilisé. Dans cette thèse, j’examine l’émergence de l’entité Kansaï dans ce contexte socio-économique, depuis l’arrivée du phénomène que les Kansaïens appellent « l’affaissement de terrain » du Kansaï, le jibanchinka, jusqu’aux revendications récentes pour l’introduction d’un système quasi-fédéraliste, le dōshū-sei, dans le contexte du développement régional déséquilibré du pays. En m'appuyant sur mon enquête effectuée sur terrain auprès des gens du Kansaï, je soutiens que leur discours régionaliste est bel et bien existant, mais ne repose pas sur l’homogénéité de la région. Il repose plutôt sur la position du Kansaï en tant qu’antithèse à la tendance centralisatrice perçue par les Kansaïens comme étant plutôt de nature tokyoïte. Leur discours met l’accent sur la diversité existant à l’intérieur même de la région tout en soulignant que celle-ci constitue l’entité kansaïenne. Mots-clés : Japon, Kinki, Kansai, Osaka, Nihonjinron, région, villes, discours culturel, État-nation, multiculturalisme, Oda Sakunosuke, Tanizaki Jun’ichiro. / In recent times, we hear more and more the word "Kansai" to designate the Japanese region of Kinki (literally ‘the neighborhood of the capital’). This thesis proposes to analyze the emergence of this regional entity and its cultural discourse to compensate for the lack of previous research on the socio-cultural variety and the regionalism of Japan. In the current situation, on one hand, some wish to consider Japan as a homogenous entity, and on the other hand, Japan it-self considers its people as homogenous. Historically, these views were refuted several times by researchers and organisms. In the meantime, the regional variation becomes less and less clearly observable because of the urbanization, the progress made in transportation systems, the internal migration and the development of mass media. It is in this post-industrial era however that the regionalist discourse of Kansaï emerged. In this context, this study focuses on the cultural discourse regarding the region and the people of Kansai, that is the Kinki region, where were situated the old capitals and the cradle of the Yamato state, and on which one observes an alteration and a transformation of its description starting at the Tokugawa era. Since Meiji era, the spatial integration of the Japanese archipelago has become inseparable from the emergence of the so-called "modern" state. In addition, a division between Western Japan (Kansai) and Eastern Japan continues to exist for their differences in customs, linguistic variations and mentality: a dichotomy better represented by the current opposition between the cities of Osaka and Tokyo. Today, Japan experiences a continual centralization around Tokyo and the balance of power on the economic level is being undermined. I examine the emergence of the Kansai entity by analyzing its economic and social context, from the arrival of the phenomenon the Kansaï people call jibanchinka (the "land subsidence" of Kansaï) until the recent demands for the introduction of a quasi-federalism system called dōshū-sei in the context of unbalanced regional development of Japan. Resting on my investigation carried out in Kansai, I argue that their regionalist aspiration exists, but does not stand for the homogeneity of the region as a whole. Rather, they ground on its position as an antithesis to the centralizing approach they perceive as being rather Tokyoite in nature. Their discourse inevitably emphasizes the variety existing within the region itself, while underlining the fact that this is what constitutes the Kansai.