Supporting civil society, and pooling resources to succeed

Session 2 was moderated by Daniel Bob, director of programs at Sasakawa USA. The discussion brought together three panelists: Mitsugi Endo and Yasunobu Sato, both professors at the University of Tokyo, and James Zumwalt, former U.S. ambassador and current CEO of Sasakawa USA.

Bob opened the session by explaining its goal: to introduce the audience to some of the themes that appear in the Sasakawa publication, "U.S.-Japan Approaches to Democracy Promotion."

"The premise of the book is that democracy is worth promoting," Bob said, and then explained how it offers five recommendations: make democracy promotion a goal of the U.S.-Japan alliance; create a list of the highest priority countries on which their efforts should be focused; reinvigorate U.S.-Japanese participation "in international bodies that promote democracy"; strengthen functional democracies and support human rights development; and consider Myanmar a priority for democracy promotion.

Endo began the discussion by describing the concept of "civil society support," upon which he provided a critical perspective in one chapter of the Sasakawa book. He also went over a few of the methods by which Japan supports democratic development, using its policies in Africa as an example.

Endo explained that Japan aims to support specific policies regarding education, development and other democracy-related themes, but as mentioned numerous times, Japan's engagement with democracy promotion is limited in comparison to the U.S. and Europe. Moreover, in Africa, a region in which Endo specializes, Japan does not clearly state exactly how it will support democracy.

The Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) meeting is an important part of the Japanese platform, and after being held five times in Japan, it was held in Nairobi to counter similar Chinese efforts in the region. However, although human security is a pillar of Japanese foreign policy, Endo noted that it is not mentioned in relation to Africa. Japan only clearly states support for the promotion of democracy in central and Eastern Europe, and while an ODA white paper last year said that strengthening democracy in developing nations was a goal, Southeast Asia is explicitly mentioned while Africa is not.

Endo then pointed to the dangers posed by Chinese involvement in Africa, one of which is a weakened incentive to promote democratization internally. While he noted that recent survey data showed people still consider the U.S. model to be the best method in which to engage Africa, the Chinese model is considered in similarly positive way.

"It is probably fair to say that China has had an influence on the recession of democracy in Africa," he said.

James Zumwalt joined the discussion at this point, agreeing to focus on Africa in order to make their perspectives easier to compare. He began by noting that the U.S. and Japan share democratic values, and it is in their self-interest to promote those values. In addition, he believes that both countries will be more effective if they coordinate their efforts, even if they don't take the same approach. Zumwalt also agreed with an assertion by Endo that democratic systems cannot be imposed from outside, but expressed that, while Japan may have historical reasons for being reluctant about interfering in the affairs of other states, he hopes Japan will be more proactive in nurturing democratic development in the future.

One example he offered demonstrated how civil society-based efforts like those Endo referred to can be successful.

"Civil society has an important role," Zumwalt explained. "When we think about promoting democracy, we think about lecturing and telling people what to do...that isn't good, but working with local groups can be positive."

He related a story about a meeting he had with a woman in Senegal. The government promised to open a school in one of the conflict zones, and the woman was one of those who had gone into the forest to talk with rebel leaders to negotiate the building of the school. Zumwalt asked how she was able to do something so brave, and she responded that training she had received from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) had given her the confidence she needed.

"This is grass-roots democracy," he emphasized.

Yasunobu Sato directed his focus toward Japan and its relationships with other Asian countries, and began by described how Cambodia is attempting to promote democracy "through the rule of law."

Sato reminded the audience that while Japan became a democracy through the efforts of the post-war U.S. occupation government, he believes that the "rule of law" and strong governance already in place since the Meiji era was an essential part of its success adoption.

He also mentioned Japanese efforts to work with Vietnam. This was difficult for the U.S. to do after the Vietnam War, but Japan had maintained diplomatic ties with the country and was able to take a leadership position in re-building a trusting relationship with the Vietnamese government. Vietnam continues to model itself on the Chinese system as a communist single party state, but Sato believes that "things are changing" just as is occurring to a certain extent in China.

Sato added, however, that NGOs must provide more assistance, and that support for civil society is still lacking.

"Lack of such assistance is partially to blame for the difficulties we face in dealing with authoritarian regimes like Cambodia," he believes.

Providing assistance to promote democratic values and human rights can be difficult, Sato admitted, and noted the different ways the U.S. and Japan dealt with Myanmar. While the U.S. imposed economic sanctions, Japan instead provided humanitarian aid and human development assistance. However, he also noted that "both methods were correct" and that, Myanmar's democratization could be better attributed to a backlash against perceived militaristic/expansionist development within Myanmar on the part of China.

Sato agreed with other speakers who mentioned that Myanmar should be the primary focus for the U.S. and Japan in creating a model for the promotion of democracy.

"As democracy recedes in other countries, and I believe it will continue to roll back, Myanmar is the final hope," he said.

He concluded by expressing his belief in the necessity of Japan taking a leading role alongside the U.K., Australia and other partners, in encouraging sustainable economic development and building a road to peace together with China, rather than by taking the hard line through
achieving military hegemony.

Daniel Bob wrapped up the second session with a response to a question from an audience member worried about U.S. President Donald Trump's proposed cutting of support to USAID and similar programs and institutions.

"I think the key is, even though the proposed budget from the president has some fairly significant cuts - USAID, State Department - keep in mind that's only the very beginning of the budget process," he said, continuing on to explain how any budget proposals must go through a number of steps before being put into practice. Bob also explained that overseas development systems have a number of very vocal supporters in Washington, so he believes that the final budget will show cuts that are less drastic than initially feared.

"I think there will be cuts," he concluded. "But I think it argues as much as anything, for cooperation between the U.S. and Japan. In case of limited resources, the more we can cooperate and use our combined resources and our different approaches, the better. If anything...this is the time the two countries should work together on very specific, real projects."

⇒ Session 1