The Diversity of Japan’s Overseas Development Assistance to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: A Case Study of the Role of Security

Abstract

This article analyzes Japan’s Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) policy in Jordan, focusing primarily on the areas concerning security. After the oil shock in 1973, security concerns in the Middle East affected Japan’s economic security policy. However, Japan’s long vulnerability in energy supply was not the sole determinant of its aid policies in the Middle East. Rather, a paradigm shift in the Japanese government’s ODA policy in the 1990s, the implementation of the human security approach, had a greater impact than economic security in subsequent Japanese ODA programs in Jordan. Japan has given more assistance to areas relevant to military security in its ODA in Jordan, particularly after increasing security concerns about the Middle East since the early twenty-first century. The two phenomena—Japan’s more aggressive commitment in the Middle East, including its deployment of Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) in the region and Jordan’s greater responsibility in regional security—occurred simultaneously because of a series of crises after 2003. The unusual nature of Jordanian society today, a small society that hosts refugees from many nations, means the new Japanese ODA approach in Jordan has more diverse recipients than ever, as the country is becoming a host for a community of refugees.