ABSTRACT

This chapter proposes that examining development non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through a methodological focus on actors and personal relationships blind to the categories of “the state” and “civil society,” can elucidate political processes that might be overlooked in orthodox analyses. Specifically, Watanabe focuses on the individual relations that intersected at one of the oldest NGOs in Japan, and reveals how conservative and powerful politicians, religious leaders, and aid officials came together to shape early conceptions of development aid. She suggests that the rethinking of state-society relations in the field of Japanese development aid, can offer alternative analytical tools to understand “emerging donors” in Asia, beyond the assumption of top-down imaginations.