Author Archives: ld-sylff

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

Applications for SRG and SLI in Fiscal 2025 to Open in May

April 4, 2025

The Sylff Association secretariat will begin accepting applications for Sylff Research Grant (SRG) and Sylff Leadership Initiatives (SLI) for fiscal 2025 (April 2025 to March 2026) in May 2025.

As previously announced in February, several changes have been made to the two support programs this year. For those interested in applying, please carefully read through the Call for Application for each program and prepare your applications in time for the preliminary application period, which will begin on May 15, 2025.

The Calls for Application for the two programs are linked below.

SRG: https://www.sylff.org/support_programs/srg/

SLI: https://www.sylff.org/support_programs/sli/

We look forward to launching our support programs for fiscal 2025 and to receiving applications for insightful research and innovative social initiatives.

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

A New Start for the Tokyo Foundation

April 1, 2025

The Tokyo Foundation for Policy Research, which serves as the Sylff Association secretariat, is pleased to announce that Executive Director for Policy Research Mieko Nakabayashi has been named our new President. We have also relocated to a new office and have shortened our official name to the “Tokyo Foundation.”

Former President Izumi Kadono will remain at the Foundation in the capacity of an Advisor. The changes, as detailed below, came into effect on April 1, 2025.

The Tokyo Foundation was established in 1997 as an independent, not-for-profit think tank to examine critical issues confronting society; undertake rigorous, evidence-based policy research; and offer a range of policy options in pioneering paths to a brighter future. It also cultivates broadminded, socially engaged future leaders, both in Japan and overseas, in helping build a better society for all.

The new name is actually the one we used before 2018. We have decided to reembrace our roots in an attempt to clarify our mission, elucidate our vision, and reinforce our core values.

We hope that these changes will lead to fuller engagement with all our stakeholders in the Sylff community.

New name: The Tokyo Foundation (a public-interest incorporated foundation)
New address: The Sasakawa Peace Foundation Bldg. 5F, 1-15-16 Toranomon, Minato-ku, Tokyo 105-0001 Japan
New president: Mieko Nakabayashi
Phone: +81-3-5797-8402 (unchanged)
URL: https://www.tokyofoundation.org (unchanged)
Access (nearest stations)

Toranomon Station (Ginza Line): 1-min. walk from Exit 2b, 4, or 12
Toranomon Hills Station (Hibiya Line): 4-min. walk from Exit B1 or A2
Kasumigaseki Station (Chiyoda, Hibiya, and Marunouchi Lines): 5-min. walk from Exit A12
JR Shinbashi Station: 10-min. walk from Hibiya exit

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

Legal Foundations and Challenges of Inspections in International Law

March 19, 2025
By 31421

Inspections are playing a growing role in international law as a compliance tool, but they remain underexplored in legal scholarship. Swati Malik (Geneva Graduate Institute, 2020, 2021) used an SRG award to further her comparative analysis of how inspections operate across three international legal regimes.

* * *

My doctoral research at the Geneva Graduate Institute examines the legal basis, authority, and implications of inspections in international law. Inspections, though increasingly relied upon, remain a somewhat underexplored mechanism for ensuring accountability across various global legal regimes. They aim to secure state compliance with international treaties and agreements, particularly in fields like disarmament, environmental governance, and human rights protection.

What motivated me to pursue this research is the growing role inspections play in international law and the relative scarcity of detailed legal scholarship on the subject. While inspections are a powerful tool for verifying whether states adhere to international norms, their legal foundations and operational practices are often taken for granted.

My research seeks to fill this gap by analyzing how inspections operate legally and practically across three international legal regimes—those governed by the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling (ICRW), and the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT) and its Optional Protocol (OPCAT).

Conducting Fieldwork in The Hague

The use of inspections as a compliance tool has expanded across different international law regimes, though their methods and frameworks differ significantly based on the context. For instance, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) conducts stringent inspections to verify that state parties to the CWC are fulfilling their obligations to dismantle and destroy chemical weapons.

In contrast, ICRW inspections—mandated by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) but led by the states parties themselves—--focus on ensuring adherence to quotas and regulations designed to balance the conservation of whale species with cultural and economic practices.

Finally, the inspections carried out by the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT) under OPCAT are vital for ensuring that states comply with human rights standards in relation to the prohibition of torture and inhumane treatment.

In 2023, I was awarded a Sylff Research Grant, which allowed me to conduct international fieldwork in The Hague, Netherlands. This phase of my research focused on the OPCW’s work and the resources available at the Peace Palace Library, which hosts one of the world's largest collections of international law materials. This opportunity was essential to my comparative analysis of inspections in international law, particularly in understanding how inspections are governed and implemented within the chemical weapons’ disarmament regime.

International Court of Justice, 2024.

Doctrinal and Qualitative Research

My SRG research methodology combined doctrinal analysis with qualitative methods. Doctrinally, I examined the legal framework that underpins inspections in the CWC. This involved analyzing the treaty itself, OPCW reports, and secondary sources related to these inspections. My archival research at the Peace Palace Library also enabled me to access key legal precedents and historical materials that illuminated how the practice of inspections undertaken by the OPCW has evolved over the years.

In addition to doctrinal research, I employed qualitative analysis to better understand the operational challenges of inspections. Due to the confidential nature of OPCW inspections, my research relied heavily on publicly accessible reports and archival materials. These were complemented by informal discussions with legal experts in the field, which allowed me to incorporate both theoretical and practical perspectives into my analysis.

Peace Palace Library Collection, 2024.

Legal Framework and Authority of OPCW Inspections

The inspections conducted by the OPCW are governed by the CWC, a treaty that establishes one of the most comprehensive verification mechanisms in international law. The CWC mandates a tiered inspection regime comprising routine inspections, challenge inspections, and investigations of alleged use, each with distinct protocols designed to balance the imperatives of disarmament verification with the sovereignty of state parties.

While routine inspections assess compliance with declarations regarding chemical facilities, the treaty also provides for challenge inspections, an extraordinary tool theoretically enabling state parties to request intrusive verification of suspected violations. Despite the robust legal framework available to tackle them, no challenge inspection has ever been invoked, underscoring the political and procedural complexities inherent in this mechanism.

My research highlights the nuanced nature of these inspections. Routine inspections, though standardized, vary significantly depending on the type of facility inspected, such as chemical weapon production sites, destruction facilities, or storage locations. Each category is subject to tailored protocols that address the specific risks associated with the chemicals involved.

By contrast, inspections in conflict zones, such as those conducted in Syria, deviate from the routine model. These inspections have required the adaptation of the CWC’s general provisions to circumstances involving active hostilities, access restrictions, and contested political narratives. The legal challenges in these cases illustrate the flexibility and limitations of the OPCW’s mandate, particularly in environments where state consent is precarious or absent.

A critical element of the OPCW’s inspection regime is the treatment of inspection reports. These reports are classified as strictly confidential. This confidentiality is intended to protect sensitive information while ensuring the integrity of the verification process. However, it also raises questions about transparency and accountability, as the specific findings often remain inaccessible to the broader international community.

My archival research demonstrated that the confidentiality of these reports does not preclude their strategic use in shaping state behaviour. States found to be in noncompliance may face significant political and reputational consequences, even in the absence of public disclosure. This dynamic underscores the dual role of OPCW inspections—as a mechanism for technical verification and as an instrument for reinforcing international norms and obligations contained in the CWC.

Challenges in Conducting Inspections

Inspections conducted under the CWC face a range of operational and political challenges; these challenges often arise from the intersection of legal obligations and the geopolitical realities of the states involved. A significant challenge lies in the logistical aspects of inspections, particularly in conflict or high-risk zones.

For example, inspections in Syria have highlighted the difficulties in securing safe and timely access to facilities. Inspectors must navigate not only the physical risks associated with active conflict but also restricted access imposed by states citing security concerns or administrative delays. Such restrictions can affect the thoroughness of inspections and raise questions about the comprehensiveness of their findings.

Political interference and influence represent another pervasive obstacle. While the CWC provides legal backing for challenge inspections, the political cost of invoking such a measure has deterred states from exercising this option. The absence of challenge inspections to date underscores the diplomatic sensitivities surrounding their implementation.

The COVID-19 pandemic further exposed vulnerabilities in the OPCW’s verification processes by necessitating a significant shift in inspection methodologies. With travel restrictions and health risks limiting in-person activities, the OPCW transitioned many aspects of its routine inspections to online platforms. Remote verification measures, such as virtual inspections and the submission of digital documentation, were adopted as solutions to maintain compliance monitoring. While these measures allowed the OPCW to continue its work during unprecedented circumstances, they also highlighted the limitations of online methodologies in tasks requiring physical oversight, such as sample collection and on-site verification of equipment. This shift underscored the importance of balancing technological adaptability with the rigorous standards expected in international verification regimes.

In my research, I also noted the importance of the OPCW’s procedural flexibility to address challenges systematically. Its frameworks, while robust, rely heavily on the preparedness and expertise of inspection teams to navigate unforeseen circumstances, such as sudden shifts in geopolitical dynamics or emergency situations. This adaptability is a hallmark of the OPCW’s operational effectiveness as it ensures that inspections remain credible even under challenging conditions.

Routine inspections are the backbone of the OPCW’s mission to uphold the CWC’s principles. While logistical, technical, and operational challenges are inherent to the process, they underscore the resilience and adaptability of the verification regime. My research highlighted the need for continued refinement of protocols and greater investment in tools and strategies that enhance the OPCW’s ability to conduct inspections under varying circumstances, ensuring their long-term effectiveness.

Societal Contributions and Impact

The findings from my research contribute to a deeper understanding of how inspections function as mechanisms for accountability and compliance in international law. By examining inspections across different legal regimes, my work highlights their importance in maintaining global security, promoting environmental conservation, and safeguarding human rights.

In the case of the OPCW, inspections have played a crucial role in eliminating the global stockpile of declared chemical weapons, thus contributing to international peace and security. The inspections conducted under the ICRW, on the other hand, help preserve endangered whale species by ensuring that states comply with conservation quotas while recognizing cultural and economic needs. Meanwhile, the SPT inspections help prevent and address torture and inhumane treatment by holding states accountable to their human rights obligations in this realm.

The societal contributions of inspections go beyond their immediate legal context. They promote transparency, foster cooperation between states, and provide mechanisms for peacefully resolving disputes. In doing so, inspections contribute to a more stable and predictable international order, where states are held accountable and international norms are upheld.

Universality and Diversity of the Human Condition

Inspections, as a legal mechanism, reflect both the universality and diversity of the human condition. On one level, inspections are grounded in universal principles of accountability, transparency, and rule of law. They represent the collective interest of the international community in ensuring that states adhere to their legal obligations, whether in the areas of disarmament, environmental governance, or human rights.

At the same time, inspections must be adapted to the specific legal, political, and cultural contexts in which they are conducted. Inspections within the disarmament regime differ significantly from those in human rights or environmental governance reflecting the diversity of the international legal landscape. This flexibility is a testament to the adaptability of inspections as a legal tool and underscores the need for a nuanced understanding of how inspections function across different contexts.

Conclusion and Future Research

The SRG award has been invaluable in advancing my research on inspections in international law. The fieldwork conducted in The Hague allowed me to access critical resources and better understand the OPCW’s role in enforcing compliance with the CWC. This phase of my research provided a solid foundation for the next stage of my project, which will focus on inspections under the IWC regime.

Moving forward, I plan to complete my fieldwork at the IWC Secretariat in the United Kingdom. By studying the Secretariat’s inspection reports and interacting with experts, I aim to finalize my comparative analysis of inspections across the three legal regimes. This analysis, I hope, will provide a comprehensive understanding of the legal basis, authority, and implications of inspections in international law and also hopefully contribute to both academic discourse and practical policymaking in international law.

The main sources of my SRG research were the OPCW Archives in The Hague and a variety of academic materials related to OPCW inspections found at the Peace Palace Library, also in The Hague.

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

In Search of Women Photographers in Twentieth-Century India

March 7, 2025
By 31414

Exploring the largely hidden history of early women photographers in India, Sreerupa Bhattacharya (Jadavpur University, 2018) follows traces of their work to uncover the contributions they made in shaping the art and practice of photography on the subcontinent.

* * *

In an 1898 issue of Amrita Bazar Patrika, one of the leading daily newspapers in colonial Bengal, appeared an advertisement for a well-known photo studio, emphasizing the availability of “female artists” to photograph women. A lady behind the lens meant that elite women could have their photographs taken without inviting anxieties about being seen unveiled by men in public. It is, however, not known if these “artists” were necessarily only photographers or also those involved in tinting and retouching photographs.

Notwithstanding, it is significant that photography emerged as a source of employment for European as well as native women at the turn of the twentieth century. When the first all-women’s studio in India was established in 1892 to exclusively serve a female clientele, it recruited “native female assistants” who were led by an Englishwoman. These examples attest to women’s prolific presence in a range of photographic works at a time when they were yet to become key players in the many other technology-led industries in colonial India.

My doctoral research examines women’s photographic practices in early- to mid-twentieth-century India and their rediscovery in contemporary times, with a focus on questions of labor, materiality, and representation. Recent curatorial and scholarly interests in twentieth-century Indian women behind the lens have largely focused on family and domestic photography. My project seeks to build on this scholarship by moving away from the biographical approach and mapping individual practices onto the larger discourse of photography. The purpose is not only to recover little-known lives and their contributions but also to expose marginalized objects, sites, and networks through them in order to potentially reconfigure the photo history in the subcontinent and expand our understanding of photography in turn.

Footnotes in Photo History

Women, until recently, have been footnotes in the grand narrative of the history of photography in India that has mainly dramatized the conflict between the colonizer and the colonized, emphasized the peculiarly Indian character of photography, and celebrated its pioneering male figures. The “native female assistant” remained nameless, for instance, in the several monographs on the work of Lala Deen Dayal, the eminent photographer who established the photo studio in which these women worked.

In his 2008 book The Coming of Photography in India delineating the sociocultural, political, and philosophical implications of the arrival of the camera under the Raj, art historian Christopher Pinney mentions a set of calotypes and photograms by an unknown female photographer. Made in the 1840s, they are significant as the earliest extant photographs of India. Yet, she receives no more than a passing reference. Perhaps no more than that is possible since institutional archives bear only traces of such women’s presence.

Rather than bemoan such absences, my project explores them as speculative nodes to flesh out the figure of the woman behind the lens. One of the imperatives of the project, thus, is to delineate the discursive forces, historically and in the contemporary, that have constituted the figure of the woman photographer in India.

New Insights from Revisiting the Archives

Many of the photography journals, pamphlets, and illustrated magazines published in twentieth-century India are currently housed in institutions across the United States and Europe. Perhaps the most capacious among these is the British Library in London, where Desmond Ray, the deputy keeper of the India Office Library and Records, consolidated in the 1970s and 1980s both images and documents related to photography in India.

The Sylff Research Grant allowed me to explore the British Library collection in great detail during my two-month-long stay in the UK. The other archives and institutions I visited included the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Cambridge South Asia Centre, Birkbeck College, the University of London, and the Courtauld Institute of Art. In each of them, I found librarians, archivists, and professors who provided extraordinary insights into my project, greatly enhancing my understanding of the nebulous photographic landscape in India and in other parts of the world in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

The Photography and the Book Room of the Photography Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum, September 2024. Photo by the author.

Parsing through different kinds of documents—letters, periodicals, photographs, and news reports—led me to glean names of individuals, organizations, and activities that suggest a scattered but persistent presence of women photographers. They reveal new constituencies of photo practitioners that expand the contours of received histories.

Departing from the recent focus on amateur practices centered on the family, home, and travels, my archival research revealed a discursive emphasis on photography as an occupation for women throughout the twentieth century. Photography emerged as one of the few technology-led activities that could easily make the transition from pastime to profession.

Women photographers thus marked their presence in photo studios, at political rallies, in exhibitions, and behind editorial desks. With cameras in hand, they not only made aesthetic interventions but also exposed the fault lines in the discourse of photography. While much of contemporary scholarship revolves around individual practices, revisiting the archives enabled me to reorient the focus to a matrix of material relations that reveal the history of photography in India as gendered work.

From the series Centralia, 2010–2020, by Poulomi Basu, on display at the Photography Centre, Victoria and Albert Museum, October 2024. Photo by the author.

A Global Phenomenon

Besides conducting archival research, I was fortunate to be able to participate in workshops organized by scholars, artists, and critics at the forefront of global photography studies today. A joint initiative by the Victoria and Albert Museum and Birkbeck College for doctoral students called “Researching on, and with, Photographs” proved invaluable in exploring the wide range of contemporary scholarly work on the political and aesthetic purchase of historical photography. A talk on British photographer Jo Spence’s collection was insightful in thinking about feminist articulations of art and activism. It also raised questions about how to preserve and display such works, meant for public engagement, within formal institutional structures.

The sessions held at the V&A Photography Centre also offered glimpses into the early processes in the development of photography, the formation of the institution’s photography collection, and its current decolonial efforts. It gave me the opportunity to discuss the museum’s recently developed women in photography collection, which contains a wide range of photographs made in the British colonies in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

The workshop and the ongoing projects at the museum foregrounded the renewed interest in the study of women behind the lens. Just in the past five years, there have been major conferences and exhibitions on twentieth-century women photographers in North America, Europe, and Asia. My project gains greater resonance amidst such efforts at rediscovering and reevaluating twentieth-century women’s photography around the world.

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

Populism’s Mitigated Potency in Japan and Implications for Mature Democracies

February 25, 2025
By 31407

Despite Japan’s economic struggles, populism has made limited electoral impact. Jiajia Zhou (Columbia University, 2017) explores how the local organizational strength of incumbent parties mitigates the effectiveness of populist rhetoric and, in doing so, may facilitate the pursuit of electorally challenging policies.

* * *

Populism is an endogenous offshoot of representative democracy. It is a rhetoric that appeals to shared grievances among the electorate, blames representative elites, and in this process “[takes] advantage of democracy’s endogenous discontent with the domineering attitude of the few over the many” (Urbinati 2019, 119).

What is surprising about populism today is not its presence but its potency—that the basic claims of extreme majoritarianism capture the hearts of enough voters to make waves in electoral outcomes. Some scholars have opted to view populism as a strategy employed by political actors to mobilize “large numbers of mostly unorganized followers” (Weyland 2001, 14). This aligns with the origin of populism as a concept coined to differentiate electoral politics dominated by charismatic leaders in Latin America from class-based mobilization in European democracies (Roberts 2015, 144).

However, this definition magnifies the present condition while overlooking a key question, that is, why has the anti-elite claim come to amass so much electoral influence in democracies where elections used to be anchored in various loci of organized support? Part of the answer lies in the weakening geographical strength of political parties in mature democracies.

Resisting Populism at the Local Level

Japan serves as a case study to test this theory. Japan, in particular, is a democracy where populism has the potential to succeed. Since the 1990s, Japan’s economy has observed at best tepid growth. More recently, South Korea, whose economy developed later than Japan, has achieved a higher nominal GDP per capita. Not only has Japan’s economic status been shaken, but its weakening yen has also spurred an unfamiliar and trying experience of inflation for its electorate.

Although Japan lacks the presence of an immigrant population large enough to fuel nativist sentiments, democracies with similar ethnic compositions, such as Hungary, show that this alone does not preclude the influence of populism; economic ills can suffice to trigger populist support. Why, then, has populism had a relatively limited impact on elections in Japan?

One factor may be that local, organized support retains its electoral clout. My SRG research identified two sources of evidence for this. First, I revisited an episode of populism in national politics in 2005, when then Prime Minister Jun’ichiro Koizumi from the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) dissolved the lower house of the National Diet and called for an electoral referendum to overturn the upper house’s rejection of his postal privatization bill. The landslide victory demonstrated the potential for populism in Japan, as Koizumi’s anti-elite framing of opposition within his own party—as “forces of resistance” (teiko seiryoku) pursuing “vested interests” (kitokuken)—succeeded in reversing trends in falling voter turnout and secured a two-thirds majority for the LDP and coalition partner Komeito.

Prime Minister Koizumi announcing his party’s election platform calling for the privatization of postal services. ©Junko Kimura / Getty Images

Notably, though, the contests were especially challenging in divided districts where LDP candidates, mostly new blood, were assigned to compete against ex-LDP incumbent candidates who had opposed the postal bill and been stripped of their party’s endorsement.

Even though 51 LDP lower house members resisted Koizumi’s postal bill, only 37 members voted against it, and they were either expelled or ordered to leave the party. The 14 others who abstained or were absent from the vote retained their party affiliation (Shukan Asahi 2005; Asano 2006). Among the 37 who lost their LDP affiliation, 34 ran in the election, and exactly half were reelected.

Analyzing voting patterns across municipalities, I found a negative relationship between the LDP’s organizational strength and its vote gains. Specifically, in areas where the LDP was organizationally stronger, countermobilization by politicians in those districts drew significant votes away from the party. Even though Koizumi’s market-oriented postal privatization policy aimed to benefit urban voters by promoting productive investment, postal opposition candidate Seiko Noda, for example, successfully drew votes away from the LDP, winning reelection in Gifu’s first district covering the prefectural capital of Gifu City.

In another case, Ryozo Ishibashi, an LDP prefectural assembly member in the city of Hiroshima, entered the lower house race to oppose postal privatization and split LDP votes, drawing support away from the party in his district.

By contrast, in districts where the LDP was organizationally weaker and local conservative politicians had for several years been distancing themselves from the LDP, the decisions by these local mobilizers to support postal reform led to large increases in vote share, such as in Shizuoka’s seventh district.

Populism’s Impact on the 2024 Election

Second, I examined populism’s potency in the most recent lower house elections in October 2024 through an online survey experiment involving respondents from all 47 prefectures in Japan. In the survey, respondents were presented with a description referencing recent episodes of the political funds scandal, followed by hypothetical campaign excerpts from a non-LDP conservative candidate.

Respondents were randomly assigned one of two possible campaign messages. The first adopted a populist frame linking current economic woes to the collusive and corrupt LDP politicians who served vested interests over the interests of the people. The second similarly emphasized current economic woes but stressed party turnover and a change of government to strengthen policies as the solution. After reading the message, respondents were asked to indicate their support for the hypothetical candidate.

The experiment yielded evidence for the strong role played by local party representation, that is, the incumbent party’s organizational reach in local areas and role in politically fulfilling local needs.

First, the experiment found higher candidate support when respondents were exposed to populist messaging. This trend was stronger among respondents reporting weaker trust in political institutions, a pattern similar to that of populist support in European countries. However, unlike in Europe, populist support was not particularly strong among respondents residing in areas facing demographic decline or among those reporting economic insecurity in rural areas.

Instead, populist support was stronger among respondents reporting stronger feelings of representation at the municipal level and whose municipal representatives were non-LDP politicians. It was also stronger in prefectures with lower ratios of LDP party membership for each single-member electoral district.

Additional questions examining respondents’ attitudes revealed higher levels of nativist sentiments—where respondents perceive foreigners as a threat to local culture—in municipalities with higher ratios of foreign to local residents. This relationship is distinct from the inflow of tourists, which does not fuel nativist sentiments.

Importance of Local Organizations in Resisting Populist Rhetoric

These results suggest that the lack of populist support in Japan is not the result of unique resistance against the phenomenon but the geographical strength of its incumbent party organization. The idea that political party organization matters is not new to political science research (e.g. Katz and Mair 2018). But the results here reveal how, and in what ways, the incumbent party organization matters against the populist challenge.

My research also shows that the penetration of political party organizations in local electoral districts facilitates countermobilization and increases voter-level resistance against empty populist rhetoric that is devoid of policy relevance. This finding complements studies in other democracies that have identified the important effects of local mobilization but have emphasized the mobilizational effects of populist forces, such as in Sweden (Loxbo 2024).

The local electoral arena remains a salient theater for competition between incumbent and challenger parties. Ideological competition among central parties using party platforms and ideology is not a democratic ill. However, vulnerability to populism grows when attention at the center eviscerates the party of its local organization and overlooks the local arena.

This is not to imply that Japan presents a model of healthy democracy. Rather, it shows that populism, as an anti-elite appeal to majoritarianism, arises from not only commonly cited economic factors but also weak incumbent political party organization.

More broadly, there has been increased scholarly attention to the role of social media, warranted by increased reliance on information received through these platforms. Yet, even if social media has become the primary battleground for the electoral offensive, local areas remain critical flanks where electoral organization and representation matter. Strengthening these local organizational structures is essential if mainstream parties in countries like Japan wish to pursue electorally challenging policies, such as expanding immigration inflows.

References

Asano, Masahiko. 2006. Shimin shakai ni okeru seido kaikaku: Senkyo seido to kohosha rikuruto. Keio University Press.

Katz, Richard S., and Peter Mair. 2018. Democracy and the Cartelization of Political Parties. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780199586011.001.0001.

Loxbo, Karl. 2024. “How the Radical Right Reshapes Public Opinion: The Sweden Democrats’ Local Mobilisation, 2002–2020.” West European Politics 0 (0): 1–28. https://doi.org/10.1080/01402382.2024.2396775.

Roberts, Kenneth M. 2015. “Populism, Political Mobilizations, and Crises of Political Representation.” In The Promise and Perils of Populism: Global Perspectives, edited by Carlos de la Torre, 140–58. University Press of Kentucky.

Shukan Asahi. 2005. “Jiminto zohan 51 giin, kaisan de konaru: Koizumi dokatsu hatsugen no daigosan.” August 5.

Urbinati, Nadia. 2019. “Political Theory of Populism.” Annual Review of Political Science 22 (1): 111–27. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-050317-070753.

Weyland, Kurt. 2001. “Clarifying a Contested Concept: Populism in the Study of Latin American Politics.” Comparative Politics 34 (1): 1–22. https://doi.org/10.2307/422412.

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

Sylff Research Grant (SRG) Recipients for Fiscal 2024

February 17, 2025

The Sylff Association Secretariat is pleased to announce that 48 fellows have been selected as awardees of the Sylff Research Grant (SRG) for fiscal 2024 (April 2024–March 2025).

The awards were made to support a diverse range of activities during doctoral and early postdoctoral research, including data collection, hiring of research assistants, conducting of domestic and international fieldwork, and outsourcing of tasks requiring specialized knowledge or skills.

We received numerous outstanding applications for research in a wide range of disciplines. Particularly noteworthy were proposals addressing pressing social issues like human rights, access to education, and climate resilience.

For fellows interested in applying for SRG in fiscal 2025, the call for applications will be updated in April. Please note that there will be some changes to the activities eligible for support under the program, so we encourage you to stay informed.

To learn how SRG has supported impactful research in the past, we invite you to explore the Voices from the Sylff Community section that features articles about previous recipients and their projects.

Congratulations to all the awardees! We hope the research conducted through this grant will yield meaningful outcomes for both the fellows and society. The profiles of the 48 awardees and their research topics are available at: List of SRG Awardees FY2024.

You may find their Sylff profiles at: https://www.sylff.org/fellows/?p=SRG

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

Invitation to Join the Nippon Foundation Scholars Association (TNFSA)

February 13, 2025

The Sylff Association secretariat is delighted to invite all Sylff fellows to join an interactive platform called The Nippon Foundation Scholars Association (TNFSA) that is administered by the Nippon Foundation--the donor of the Sylff funds.

It is an online community enabling you to connect and network with recipients of various other Nippon Foundation fellowship programs and to support your activities on a long-term basis.

WHO CAN JOIN TNFSA?

All recipients of fellowships provided by the Nippon Foundation Group (including the Tokyo Foundation).

WHAT CAN YOU DO THROUGH TNFSA?

Interact with other fellowship recipients

Search out and connect with fellows working in your field or region
Find a mentor or apply to be one
Create a discussion group and invite other Association members to join

Find opportunities

Apply for jobs advertised on the platform (when available) and learn where other TNF scholars are working
Participate in events, such as webinars and conferences, that are announced on the platform.
Seek support for team projects
Promote your own events or achievements

Learn

Read news released by Nippon Foundation Group organizations
Check posts of other Association members and join the conversation

TNFSA is a platform that all recipients of the approximately 20 Nippon Foundation Group fellowship programs can join. Since Sylff fellows represent the largest bloc of scholars in the Nippon Foundation Scholars Association, we expect that your participation will significantly invigorate this community.

You can use TNFSA to connect not only with other Sylff fellows but also with scholars outside the Sylff community. The fields covered include leadership development, peace studies, Japanese studies, and disability efforts. It is free and an excellent opportunity for you to build your career.

For those interested in joining, please follow these steps:

Visit https://tnfsa.nippon-foundation.or.jp

Click "Request to Join" in the upper right corner

Fill out the form that appears, selecting "Sylff Association" from the menu as your Fellowship Group

Click "Submit Request"

A request will be sent to the administrator, who will confirm that you are a Sylff fellow and approve your application

After confirmation, an email will be sent to the address that you provided. Click the "Activate your Account" button in the email.

You will be taken to a login page. Please log in from this page.

The Live Feed page will open. Please feel free to introduce yourself or just look around and see what is available.

Please contact sylff@tkfd.or.jp if you have trouble accessing the site. For questions regarding the platform’s features, please contact tnfsa@ps.nippon-foundation.or.jp.

We look forward to your participation!

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

Announcement: Updates to Sylff Support Programs in 2025

February 12, 2025

Thank you for your interest in our two Support Programs: Sylff Research Grant (SRG) and Sylff Leadership Initiatives (SLI). We are grateful for all the applications and inquiries we received in fiscal year 2024.

This is to notify you of several important changes that will take effect in fiscal 2025 (April 2025–March 2026):

Sylff Research Grant: Until now, SRG has been supporting a broad range of research activities, such as hiring assistants and outsourcing large-scale data collection. In 2025, eligible activities will be centered on fieldwork, with awards being expanded to a maximum of $10,000 for international fieldwork to cover travel expenses. Up to $5,000 will be available, as in the past, for domestic fieldwork.
Sylff Leadership Initiatives: Due to the need to align the program with our accounting (fiscal) year, applications should now be submitted according to a fixed schedule, rather than any time during the year. We are therefore suspending the acceptance of new applications until the start of fiscal 2025 in April. Prospective applicants should prepare their applications for submission around May 2025. The screening of concept papers and formal applications that have already been submitted will continue. Please wait to hear the screening results from the Sylff Association secretariat.

The Call for Applications for fiscal 2025 for both SRG and SLI will be posted on our website on April 1, 2025. Please be sure to check for updates so you don’t miss any important deadlines!

We appreciate your continued engagement with the Sylff community and look forward to supporting impactful research and leadership initiatives.

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

Death and Dying Preferences in China and among Ethnic Chinese US Residents

February 3, 2025
By 30592

A comparative study of end-of-life care preferences among Chinese populations in China and the United States conducted by Yifan Lou (Columbia University, 2019, 2022) reveals shared cultural values influencing end-of-life care decisions, despite differing societal contexts and healthcare systems.

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Death and dying are profound issues that are shaped by cultural, societal, and policy factors. People often assume that the experiences of dying, death outcomes, and end-of-life care decisions—such as opting for hospice care and forgoing treatments—are largely determined by the societal structures and policy frameworks of where individuals live. However, death and dying rituals are deeply cultural, and individuals within the same ethnic groups may share fundamental beliefs and values, even when they are in different environments.[1] The shared cultural perspectives, moreover, can lead to comparable end-of-life care choices and,[2] consequently, similar dying experiences, regardless of societal or policy differences.

I studied Chinese older adults as an entry point to understand how different social contexts and life experiences impact preferences for a “good death” and end-of-life outcomes for individuals with shared cultural roots.

There are approximately 1.5 billion people of Chinese ethnicity living around the world, with about 12% of them aged 65 and older.[3] Ensuring a “good death” for this rapidly growing demographic is becoming an increasingly critical public health priority. However, a key question remains: do Chinese people living in different parts of the world—in Western and Eastern countries—share similar perceptions, wishes, and choices regarding end-of-life care, decision-making, caregiving, and family communication?

Working as a social worker in a nursing home four years ago inspired me to conduct this research.

I was privileged to receive a Sylff Research Grant (SRG) that enabled me to explore this topic through a comparative project. I examined the end-of-life care experiences of Chinese individuals in China and the United States—two countries with distinct cultural, social, and healthcare contexts. By investigating these populations, I hoped to shed light on how cultural values, social circumstances, and life experiences (such as immigration versus remaining in the home country) influence older adults’ death and dying experiences. The findings can be critical for policymakers seeking to develop healthcare and palliative care strategies that respect the diverse values, traditions, and preferences of older adults, ensuring their end-of-life experiences align with their cultural beliefs and desires.

With the SRG award, I was able to conduct a series of mixed-method studies examining end-of-life care experiences among Chinese populations in China and the United States. These studies included one qualitative and one quantitative study focused on Chinese individuals in China, as well as a quantitative study of Chinese older adults in the United States. This research yielded findings with which I was able to make two conference presentations with manuscripts in preparation at the Gerontological Society of America’s Annual Scientific Meeting in November 2024 and to draft another manuscript currently under review.

Decisional Conflicts among Family Members

In the first study, I built relationships with community-based healthcare agencies in Shanghai and Beijing providing hospice and palliative care to older adults. I conducted fieldwork alongside these agencies, collecting and analyzing qualitative data on the experiences and perceptions of end-of-life care among older adults, caregivers, and healthcare providers. The study focused on how societal-level factors influence these end-of-life care experiences. Using a multi-level ecological perspective, I sought to shed light on the specific challenges and stressors that family caregivers face when navigating end-of-life care, particularly for individuals living with cognitive impairment.

A hybrid grounded theory approach was used to guide the analysis. Five key themes emerged from the data pointing to multi-level challenges and stressors, framed by social ecological theory. At the individual and interpersonal levels, emotional exhaustion due to decision-making was a prominent theme, especially when caregivers faced communication barriers regarding necessary decision-making paperwork during frequent emergency room visits. Caregivers of individuals with dementia also encountered unique decisional conflicts, often involving disagreements among siblings and uncertainty about the validity of the expressed wishes of those in advanced stages of dementia.

At the mezzo level, a common theme centered around the stigma associated with hospice care for dementia patients, in contrast to the more widely accepted notion of such care for individuals with cancer. Specialized care for dementia symptoms is often viewed as unnecessary or as overtreatment, and the sending of older parents with dementia to hospital-based hospice care—since home-based hospice care is rarely available in China—is considered a violation of filial piety. This stigma often prevents caregivers from seeking appropriate services and support for their dying loved ones. On the macro level, the lack of disease-specific end-of-life resources emerged as a significant challenge. This gap in resources often results in long waiting lists and rising service costs, making it difficult for caregivers to find care that aligns with the specific needs of older adults with different conditions (such as dementia, cancer, and heart failure).

Pain Management in End-of-Life Care

The lack of palliative care and effective pain management is a recurring theme in qualitative studies, and this prompted me to question whether this is a widespread issue for older adults across China. However, generalizing these findings requires nationally representative data. Fortunately, during my fieldwork in Beijing, I connected with a team of interdisciplinary researchers who share similar interests and conducted the first national longitudinal survey of end-of-life care among Chinese older adults.

Through this collaboration, I was able to complete my second study, in which we examined the prevalence of pain and its association with place of death and pain management in the context of urban-rural differences, using data from the China Longitudinal Aging Social Survey. Our sample included 958 decedents aged 60 and above, and we employed logistic regression models for analysis.

Our findings revealed that 26.4% of decedents did not receive timely and effective pain treatment, and 66.5% of families were unable to manage the decedent’s pain. Additionally, 41.96% of decedents experienced severe pain symptoms. Rural residents, those with severe pain, and those who died at home were more likely to forgo adequate pain treatment compared to their urban counterparts. Urban-rural differences emerged where rural older adults with severe pain and those who died at home were less likely to receive timely and effective pain treatment than urban older adults. In urban areas, severe pain symptoms and place of death were significantly associated with receiving appropriate pain management, but this was not the case in rural areas.

This quantitative study supports and extends the qualitative findings, highlighting the urgent need to improve pain management and address disparities in end-of-life care, particularly in rural China.

As noted in the previous qualitative study, many older adults in China do not communicate their wishes for future care to their family members. As a result, family members often face the stressful task of making end-of-life decisions without knowing their loved ones’ preferences and are left uncertain whether any wishes expressed earlier are still valid—particularly if illness has progressed to the point of cognitive impairment.

This raises the question: Are similar gaps in end-of-life care planning present among older, ethnic Chinese adults in the United States, despite the availability of various social policies (such as Medicare benefits for end-of-life care planning) and advocacy programs?

US Trends Mirror Those Seen in China

To address this, I attended networking workshops at gerontology conferences and got connected with a group of researchers who conducted the first population-based study on Chinese immigrants in the United States and have been collecting end-of-life, care-related data since 2021. By working with them, I was able to access this data and start my third study.

We referred to the Population Study of Chinese Elderly in Chicago (also called the PINE Study) to investigate the prevalence and preferences of end-of-life care planning, along with associated sociodemographic and health determinants among older Chinese Americans.

Linear and logistic regressions were conducted to analyze the data. Our findings showed that 46.1% of participants considered end-of-life care planning to be important or somewhat important, yet only 22% had discussed their end-of-life preferences with family members. The most preferred locations for end-of-life care were home (43.7%), hospital (35.5%), and nursing home (10.1%), with only 4.3% preferring hospice care. In terms of decision-making, 47.1% viewed end-of-life care as a family decision, 39.6% saw it as a personal decision, and 7.5% and 3.3% preferred their children or spouses to make decisions on their behalf, respectively.

Our analysis also revealed several factors associated with greater engagement in end-of-life planning, namely, older age, female gender, higher education, greater acculturation, higher levels of religiosity, and more chronic health conditions. These factors were similarly linked to a greater likelihood of having end-of-life care discussions with family members.

Our findings highlighted a low level of engagement in end-of-life care planning among Chinese older adults in the United States, mirroring trends observed in China, despite the availability of more resources and advocacy programs in the United States. This underscores the need for culturally appropriate interventions that respect the diverse preferences for end-of-life care among Chinese older adults in both countries to improve preparedness and decision-making at the end of life.

Next Phase of Research

These SRG-funded pilot studies have laid the groundwork for my next phase of research, which will involve a larger-scale comparative analysis of end-of-life care preferences among Chinese populations in Western and Eastern countries. I am currently compiling the data and developing a plan to conduct a formal statistical population comparison study. This line of research holds significant societal implications for populations worldwide that share similar cultural values and migration histories.

End-of-life care for older adults of Chinese ethnicity.

Additionally, these studies underscore the shared cultural foundations among Chinese communities across different social contexts in relation to preferences for end-of-life care and decision-making, despite the unique challenges and needs that arise in each country. This suggests that interventions that have proven effective among Chinese populations in the United States can also be adapted for use in China and raises the possibility of implementing cost-effective interventions across different settings.

This SRG-funded work has broad research implications, as it paves the way for further comparative studies among other ethnic groups to explore whether cultural preferences remain consistent when individuals migrate to or reside in different countries. If such patterns hold true, it could lead to more efficient and scalable interventions tailored to diverse cultural contexts, ultimately improving end-of-life care for various ethnic communities worldwide.

Notes

[1] Megumi Inoue, “The Influence of Sociodemographic and Psychosocial Factors on Advance Care Planning,” Journal of Gerontological Social Work 59, no. 5 (2016): 401–22.

[2] Yifan Lou and Jinyu Liu, “Death Narrative in 19th-Century China: How Did Newspapers Frame Death and Dying,” Omega: Journal of Death and Dying 84, no. 2 (2021): 634–52.

[3] Dudley L Poston Jr and Juyin Helen Wong, “The Chinese Diaspora: The Current Distribution of the Overseas Chinese Population, Chinese Journal of Society 2, no. 3 (2016): 348–73.

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投稿者 : ld-sylff

Integrating Technology for Efficient Justice Delivery in South Africa

January 22, 2025
By 28866

Leon Poshai (University of the Western Cape, 2020) examines the challenges and benefits of digitalizing South Africa’s judicial system. The electronic submission of court documents would enhance efficiency, transparency, and access, but full adoption is being hindered by cybersecurity concerns and limited ICT skills among some users.

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The aim of my SRG study was to analyze the challenges and prospects associated with the implementation of digitalization in South Africa’s justice delivery systems and to propose measures for addressing obstacles to the effective adoption of digital capabilities in the judicial sector. I conducted qualitative, exploratory research targeting participants in the litigation process from whom anecdotal data was collected through semi-structured interviews.

Efficient, transparent, and timely delivery of justice is a pivotal concern for the South African government (Ntengenyane and Masenya 2022). In interviews with study participants, I learned that the government of South Africa has moved swiftly to revamp the justice delivery system by transforming it from analog to digital through the adoption of an online digital case management system called CaseLines (formerly known as Court Online).

The system was introduced by the Gauteng Local Division of the High Court in January 2020 to enable litigants to file and upload documents electronically during court proceedings. This has ushered in opportunities to digitalize court proceedings and create pathways for expedient and transparent justice delivery in South Africa (Teffo and Chuma 2023).

Minimizing Red Tape

CaseLines is a cloud-based, e-filing system. An interviewed legal practitioner commented that the system offers litigants the opportunity to instantaneously process and submit litigation documents to relevant courts for review. CaseLines was designed to facilitate the filing, storage, and retrieval of court files and, in the process, minimize red tape (Ntengenyane and Masenya 2022).

Study participants indicated that the platform allows registrar clerks and other court officials, as well as court secretaries and administrators, to keep track of cases conveniently and efficiently. An interviewed participant noted that the CaseLines system alerts litigants about scheduled hearings and reviews through emails or short messages.

CaseLines enables court judges and legal practitioners to document legal evidence and prepare for trials expeditiously. Litigants can prepare for a case online before adjudication, helping to avoid delays in the litigation process.

Interviews with participants revealed that CaseLines has also improved the safety of legal documents, since they are stored in a secure and encrypted database, ensuring that files are not misplaced or lost. They noted that CaseLines offers greater convenience in justice delivery, as it allows applicants and plaintiffs to prepare and upload court case documents without the need for physical visits.

Enabling Remote Adjudication

In many divisions of the High Court in South Africa, particularly in Pretoria and other major cities, CaseLines has led to an overhaul of the case management and legal administration systems. I learned through this study that in cities like Durban, Polokwane, and Cape Town, CaseLines has provided the High Court with the technological tools to refine the internal workflow process, enhancing transparency and accountability in justice delivery. Study participants noted that since the adoption of the CaseLines system, the internal judicial review process has been strengthened, fostering trust among users and resulting in democratized justice accessibility.

Interviewees also noted that CaseLines was particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing courts to remotely adjudicate cases despite restrictions on in-person gatherings. When the president declared a state of national disaster in 2020, all divisions of the High Court were directed to use the CaseLines platform, reversing the traditional practice of not allowing electronic documents for litigation purposes and enabling courts to easily manage the inflow of cases (Teffo and Chuma 2023).

South Africa has continued its efforts post pandemic to strengthen the use of technology in its litigation system. Justice delivery in South Africa has become more convenient and flexible for litigants living far away, as court hearings can now be conducted through video conferencing. Nevertheless, the use of online court hearings remains optional, as judges can decide whether a matter should be adjudicated virtually or in person. Thus, hybrid court hearings comprising both physical and virtual attendance are permissible. Generally, virtual hearings are more prevalent in South Africa because of the convenience they offer to litigants.

Addressing Cybersecurity, Digital Literacy Challenges

However, there are many contextual challenges that have derailed the full digitalization of the South African justice delivery system. Firstly, there is fear among some litigants that if they use the CaseLines system, their personal data can be stolen by hackers, given the rise in cybercriminal activities in South Africa and many other parts of the world.

I learned through interviews that not every litigant is comfortable with using CaseLines because of the fear of invasion of personal privacy. Some worried that their data may be tampered with by cybercriminals and that this may result in them losing important evidence for their defense. Thus, there is a need for robust cybersecurity to guard against unauthorized access.

Interviewed participants stated that they would be more inclined to use the system if they are convinced that the information stored on the cloud is safe. The Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI Act or POPIA) is one legislative measure adopted to ensure the protection of personal information from unwarranted access.

Secondly, there is resistance to change by some litigants due to their lack of ICT skills. Some interviewed participants complained that they needed to hire someone to upload their documents, compromising the privacy of the documents and resulting in additional costs. To enable all citizens to make use of digital governance systems like CaseLines, the government of South Africa is making computer literacy training part of the educational curriculum from the elementary to tertiary levels.

Additional challenges include the digital divide, limited internet connectivity in some parts of the country, and general lack of ICT devices. Some participants revealed that they do not own smartphones, which makes it difficult for them to get updates. Substantive investments in ICT infrastructure would thus be needed to ensure that everyone in the country has universal access to ICT resources and internet connectivity, as well as to the greater convenience, transparency, efficiency, and flexibility promised by the digitalization of the South African justice delivery process.

References

Teffo, Dikeledi and Kabelo Given Chuma. 2023. “Management of Electronic Records to Support Judicial Systems at Temba Magistrates’ Court in the North West Province of South Africa.” Journal of the South African Society of Archivists 56: 35–54.

Ntengenyane, Khunjulwa, and Tlou Maggie Masenya. 2022. “The Management of Digital Court Records for Justice Delivery in the South African High Courts.” Mousaion 40 (3): 1–17.