The overall purpose of Initiative 1, “Long-term Dynamics of Environment, Technology, and Institutions” is to 1) study the impact of the technology and institutions that human society has applied and imposed on the environment of Asia and Africa from a historical perspective and 2) seek to determine the directions of technological and institutional changes in the future. To date, we have carried out research through our four groups: 1) “Asian Economic History in Classic Literature” (represented by Professor N. Kagotani), 2) “Long-term Dynamics of Environment, Technology, and Institutions in the Middle East and Islamic World” (represented by Professor Y. Kosugi), 3) “‘Autonomous Villages’ in Japan and Asian Villages” (represented by Professor K. Fujita), and 4) “Resource and Energy Use and the Path of Economic Development” (represented by Professor K. Sugihara). Over the remaining two years, we will prepare to publish our research results, including those for several chapters in the “Studies in Sustainable Humanosphere (tentative)” (Vol. 1–6) series, especially in Vol. 1.
The essence of the research and the plan for the publication of the research results for each group is as follows:
1. Reconsidering Classical Studies of Asian History: How did Asia Construct the Formal and Informal Institutions to Bring the Broader Economic Area into Balance?
In this research project, we intend to investigate the institutions and mechanisms of the empires in Asia by reconsidering the classical studies of the economic history of Asia. In the examination of three works, we focus on their relation to the Asian regional economy. Recent scholarship on Asian economic history has focused on the integration of the regional economy dating back to the seventeenth century. A number of scholars have also observed that the networks of Asian merchants played key roles in directing the flows of goods, labor, and capital in the region. How did these business networks safely sustain trade in these three cases? How has the economic order in Asia been based on the specific empire system? Our working hypotheses are that, on the one hand, empires provide various institutions to enhance the intraregional economic integration in Asia. Some are “soft” infrastructures such as the freedom of mercantile activities promised by the Asian empire. On the other hand, Asian traders’ networks created informal institutions to secure the safety of economic transactions on the basis of kinship ties and common languages. In focusing on the interactions between empires as transnational regimes and “business networks” as transnational economic actors, we intend to reconstruct the Asian regional order, governance, and institutions from the classical studies of the economic history of Asia.
2. Long-Term Dynamics of Environment, Technology, and Institutions in the Middle East and Islamic World
The themes addressed by this Initiative so far have included: (1) historical development of Islamic systems that contribute to sustainable livelihoods; (2) the long-term strategy of the Gulf region and oil-producing economies; and (3) Islamic economics as an alternative to capitalism. Some of the outcomes have already been published as journal articles and working papers, and there have been very active presentations and discussions at workshops. Regarding (1), which concerns the historical development of Islamic systems, new perspectives are being proposed based on the concepts of comparative civilizations and political institutions. Concerning (2), field surveys have been carried out, and two or three doctoral students who are cooperating in the research are planning to complete their doctoral theses in the next one or two years. On (3), there has been an enthusiastic response from abroad, and cooperative research is being strengthened with the Islamic Finance Programme at Durham University. In the coming two years, we will carry out intensive research on themes (1) to (3), and are planning to disseminate the outcomes in forms such as articles in the first volume of Lectures on Sustainable Humanosphere (Six Volumes), as a special issue of Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies, as a volume in a series of Islamic Area Studies published by Routledge in the UK, and as part of the G-COE Working Papers.
3. ‘Autonomous Villages’ in Japan and Asian Villages
The ‘Peasant Society’ (or ‘Autonomous Villages’ in Japan), which was established in temperate East Asia in the premodern period, was composed of relatively homogenous peasant households; the hard-working habit grew out of such societies. This rural institution, along with the high population pressure on the land, stimulated the development of labor-intensive technologies in both agricultural and nonagricultural sectors. It also became a prototype of the ‘egalitarian’ and efficient organization of nonfarm enterprises in the region. Thus, temperate East Asia has followed a different historical development path than Western countries. In South Asia, a rural society with strong socioeconomic disparity among households based on birth (caste) was formed, and this affected the organizational features of nonagricultural enterprises. Rural South Asia currently faces high population pressure. In Southeast Asia, on the other hand, rural society (with the exception of Java) has been characterized until recently as a ‘small population society’ with abundant land; here, an open, loosely structured, and egalitarian rural society was formed. A dense and ‘flexible’ network of relatives was also developed in rural society. In Asia, however, regardless of the differences in the prototypical rural society and the path of economic development, rural society in each Asian region is now experiencing drastic change as a result of rapid industrialization and urbanization.
This group examines how the respective organizational features in the rural society of each Asian region have affected the type of technology and the institutions developed, and how they have affected the economic development path itself. The transformation of each society from the premodern period until the present day is also investigated. We plan to publish our research in book form or as a special issue of a distinguished academic journal.
4. Resource and Energy Use and Path of Economic Development
For the last three years, this group has conducted research on the relationship between resource use and industrialization in South and Southeast Asia from a historical perspective. The group’s main aim was to determine how and to what extent the labour-intensive and resource-saving pattern of industrialization, as opposed to the capital- and resource-intensive pattern prevalent in the West, has materialized in South and Southeast Asia, and whether or not this was closely related to the resource and energy endowments of these regions. The outcome of the research regarding labour-intensive industrialization will be published in due course. We have decided to continue our investigation into the resource and energy use components of this topic over the next two years, extending the scope of enquiry to the Middle East and Africa.
The growth of the world economy over the last two centuries was made possible by the extensive use of fossil fuels, especially coal and oil. Large parts of rural areas of Asia and Africa were integrated into the world economy as exporters of primary products. At the same time, the local economies in these areas continued to be based on biomass energy, such as wood and dung. In other words, the fossil-fuel-based development of urban industries and modern transport promoted the commercialization of biomass-based rural economies. As a result, the demand for local resources and energy increased, and often resulted in deforestation and environmental degradation. This pattern had a major influence in the long-term path of economic development in the tropics and continues to this day.
This group will take up the above topic through a collaboration of specialists in Japan, China, Southeast Asia, India, the Middle East, and Africa. Part of the outcome of this research is expected to appear in the planned publication of the Global COE Program ‘Studies in Sustainable Humanosphere’.