Does Japan Speak to Africa?

Abstract

Japan has a story to tell to Africa, but it is not one that Africa will want to hear. Nor will development economists, nor will American policymakers. It implies that the policies and theories of all three groups are off the track. Yet, it is a story that all three must not only listen to, but ultimately heed. Japan has been considered a maverick in economic development. "It could not happen the same way elsewhere," economists and policymakers say. The Japanese are disciplined and organized, more so than any country in the Third World. Yet historians have known that Japan and Western Europe, the very two areas with the highest level of industrialization, have strong similarities that date back thirteen to fifteen centuries. Those similarities have not found their way into development theory, and therein lies the deficiency of economists. Therein also lies the bane for American policymakers, who have too much relied on mainstream economic theory. In this article, I will argue that Japan's secret lies in her history, and one must go far back to find it. Instead of dealing with present-day Japanese behavior, therefore, I go back to the beginning. I will construct a set of hypotheses—call it a theory if you like—drawn from both Japan and Europe. Despite the smallness of sample, I will argue that certain characteristics of