Law and Institutions

The role of law in development

Political campaigning in a rural area (Indonesia)

A courthouse in Yala Province, Thailand

As Japan's political, economic, and social involvement with developing countries continues to increase, there is a growing need to study the legal systems of those countries at a variety of levels. With regard to business activities, in addition to knowledge of legal norms set forth by enacted laws, there is a growing awareness of the need to understand the actual implementation of law and legal consciousness of people in the said country. Japan's Official Development Assistance (ODA) Charter cites, as one of its basic policies, supporting the self-help efforts of developing countries based on good governance, by extending cooperation for their human resource development, institution building including development of legal systems, and economic and social infrastructure building. This cannot be accomplished without first accurately understanding the issues faced by recipient countries regarding their legal systems.

Current research and studies concerning legal systems in developing countries include the following: (1) understanding the legal norms of target nations by collecting and analyzing relevant laws and precedents. (2) analysis of how laws are implemented and how they impact society, and understanding the judicial system as well as legal system of individual areas of law. (3) analysis of discrepancies between the legal norms/institutions and how stakeholders actually understand and perceive these norms/institutions. With this knowledge as a base, further study can identify structural legal issues faced by target countries and, then, explore potential legal policy solutions.

A country's legal structure is fundamentally impacted by the state of its economic development as well as its indigenous society and culture. These legal structures, furthermore, are influenced by, in addition to domestic factors, external factors such as globalization and international relations. As such, research on legal systems of developing countries should take these contextual factors into account, if not focus specifically on them. For example, potential research topics could include analysis of how contextual factors such as economic globalization, regime change, regional cooperation, and international aid influence the legal system in a developing country or how their legal systems respond to domestic and international issues related to environment, consumers and labor issues, or on democratization, human rights and the rule of law. Given that deep understanding of the role of law in developmental processes is necessary for effective legal reform by the developing countries and for effective legal technical assistance by donor countries, further research and theorization regarding these issues needs to be carried out.

Research Projects

FY 2011/2012

Researchers

IMAIZUMI Shinya (Asian law (Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries); international law; economic law)
HATSUKANO Naomi (Legal Studies, Policy Studies, International Development and Cambodia)
YAMADA Miwa (Asian Law, Law and Development, Dispute Resolution Systems)
KOBAYASHI Masayuki (Chinese Law, International Law, Disability Law)
NAKAGAWA Masahiko (Current Affairs in Korea)
CHIBANA Izumi (Asian Law(Philippines),Law and Development,Dispute Resolution System)
SATO Hajime (The relationship between economic development and industrial and trade policy (especially the iron & steel industry)
Political economy of development of Asian countries
Comparative political economy of economic development
The role of law and institutions in economic development)
KASHIWABARA Chie (Finance, International Organization/Administration, Philippine Economy (especially in the financial sector))
YANAI Akiko (International Economic Law, International Development Law)

Publications

Books（IDE-JETRO）

Law, Development and Socio-Economic Changes in Asia, Naoyuki Sakumoto, Masayuki Kobayashi & Shinya Imaizumi eds., 2003. (IDE Development Perspective Series No. 3)
Environmental Law and Policy in Asia--Issues of Enforcement,Yoshihiro Nomura & Naoyuki Sakumoto eds., 1997. (IDE Development and the Environment Series No.4)

IDE Asian Law Series

No.1 Law, Development and Socio-Economic Change in Asia (Proceedings of the Round Table Meeting in Manila), Institute of Developing Economies ed., IDE-JETRO,2001.
No.2 China's Judicial System and its Reform, Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (China) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2001.
No.3 Judicial System and Reforms in Asian Countries: the Case of India, Indian Law Institute (India) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2001.
No.4 The Malaysian Legal System, Legal Practice & Legal Education, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya (Malaysia) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2001.
No.5 The Philippine Judicial System, College of Law, University of the Philippines (the Philippines) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2001.
No.6 The Judicial System in Thailand – an Outlook for a New Century, Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court (Thailand) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2001.
No.7 Legal and Judicial Reforms in Vietnam, Institute of State and Law (Vietnam) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2000.
No.8 Law and Development in Changing Indonesia, Faculty of Law, Hasanuddin University (Indonesia), IDE-JETRO, 2001.
No.9 Modernization of Laws in the Philippines, College of Law, University of the Philippines (the Philippines) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2001.
No.10 The Indonesian Law on Contracts, Sunaryati Hartono, IDE-JETRO, 2001.
No.11 Law, Development and Socio-Economic Changes in Asia II (Proceedings of the Round Table Meeting in Bangkok), Institute of Developing Economies ed., IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.12 Political Change and Legal Reform towards Democracy and Supremacy of Law in Indonesia, Sunaryati Hartono, IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.13 Law and Newly Restored Democracies: The Philippine Experience in Restoring Political Participation and Accountability, College of Law, University of the Philippines (the Philippines) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.14 New Legal Frameworks towards Political and Institutional Reform, Faculty of Law, Thammasat University (Thailand) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.15 Dispute Resolution Process in China, Institute of Law, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (China) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.16 Dispute Resolution Process in India, Indian Law Institute (India) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.17 Dispute Resolution Process in Malaysia, Faculty of Law, University of Malaya (Malaysia) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.18 Dispute Resolution Mechanism in the Philippines, College of Law, University of the Philippines (the Philippines) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.19 Alternative Dispute Resolution in Thailand, Central Intellectual Property and International Trade Court (Thailand) ed., IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.20 Alternative Dispute Resolution in Vietnam, Institute of State and Law (Vietnam), IDE-JETRO, 2002.
No.21 Dispute Resolution Process in Indonesia, Hikmahanto Juwana, IDE-JETRO, 2003.
No.22 Labour Disputes Settlement System in China: Past and Perspective, Wang Zhenqi, Wang Changshuo & Zheng Shangyuan, IDE-JETRO, 2003.
No. 23 Doing Legal Research in Asian Countries (China, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam), Institute of Developing Economies ed., IDE-JETRO, 2003.
No. 24 Development of Constitutional Law and Human Rights in Taiwan Facing the New Century, Jau-Yuan Hwang, Fort Fu-Te Liao & Wen-Chen Chang, IDE-JETRO, 2003.
No. 25 Corporate Governance and Corporate Law Reform in India, S.K. Verma & Suman Gupta, IDE-JETRO, 2004.

The Developing Economies
Volume 50, Number 1 (March 2012)

An English-language journal

The Developing Economies
Volume 49, Number 4 (December 2011)

An English-language journal

Industrial Clusters, Upgrading and Innovation in East Asia
Co-publication with Other Foreign Publishers
Edward Elgar

This lucid and informative book analyzes the problem of clusters in transition through studies of agglomerations at different stages of development in

Reports