Grant Projects: Products

Recently Iwanami Shoten, Publishers has issued, ”Peace-building -from the Field of Afghanistan and East Timor” as part of a series of its Iwanami New Books. The publication is the output of Mr. Daisaku Higashi's research project, ”Confidence Construction in Peace-building.” He is a Ph.D. Candidate of British Columbia University and the Toyota Foundation has awarded him its Research Grant to conduct the project since 2007.
The major theme Mr. Higashi set at the start of his investigation was how most effectively Japan can engage itself in the process of promoting peace in the soft belly of international community such as fragile state. Also,against this backdrop, he sought to see the role of the United Nations,another major actor,in tandem. To answer this question,Mr. Higashi travelled far and undertook field survey in war-torn Afghanistan and East Timor. He interviewed a wide variety of people including high-ranking political leaders,military commanders, UN officials, and NGO workers. At the end of his book, he has proposed Japanese authority several points so as to maximize the effectiveness of its effort in peace-building: close collaboration with UN operations; assistance in civilian sector in state reconstruction ought to be prioritized; the need to develop specialists in reconciliation process; enhanced role of NGOs in official development assistance; bigger reserve of peace-builders.
This is an informative book and those who ponder what role Japan and the United Nations can play, especially in a concerted manner,in advancing the cause of peace in international community will certainly gain a lot by reading this.
As for outline of Mr. Higashi's project, please look into grant number D07-R-0538 at Toyota Foundation's website.