Comparison of funding in UN systems between Japan and Europe

B.A. Haruka YOSHIOKA

Master's thesis

Optimising crowdfunding campaigns in different cultures

Comparison of funding in UN systems between Japan and Europe- Optimising crowdfunding campaigns in different cultures-

Abstract:

Countries, citizens and organisations of all kinds around the world are currently working together towards the common good, the Sustainable Development Goals, as advocated and monitored by the United Nations. People in Western industrialised countries, known as the Global North, are expected to play a major role. However, recent international problems, such as pandemics, wars in Europe and refugee crises around the world, have severely hampered cooperation towards the SDG goals. The UN system, which sounds the alarm on crises at the global level, is also facing economic difficulties. For much of its funding, the UN relies on voluntary contributions from developed governments in the global North. As Western democracies are accountable to their citizens for the expenditure of public funds, the understanding and cooperation of their citizens is essential for the sustainable operation of the UN as the governing body of the SDGs. The starting point for this study was the question of how to maintain and improve the voluntary financial contributions from developed countries on which the UN depends. Focusing on two regions - Europe, a normative force in the world, and Japan, which has the potential to further increase its contributions - the study sought to explain the phenomenon using the methodology of social constructivism in international relations. As a result, it has been possible to articulate a cultural difference in the context of these two regions, which share values in some respects and contrast sharply in others. The contribution of this study is that it has brought a step closer to the shape of European civilisation, which has a lot of internal diversity, by contrasting it with Japan, which is one of the Western countries but has a different historical background from Europe. Furthermore, the study used the methodology of cross- -cultural psychology to test whether the behaviour of the smallest cultural actors, the individual, has the same constructs as those found in the methodology of international relations among European students and young Japanese of similar age with a bachelor's degree. The general preference for European norms among them and the finding of three specific intercultural ideas strongly suggested the usefulness of the interaction between European and Japanese studies and between international relations and psychology as a methodology.

Abstract:

Countries, citizens and organisations of all kinds around the world are currently working together towards the common good, the Sustainable Development Goals, as advocated and monitored by the United Nations. People in Western industrialised countries, known as the Global North, are expected to play a major role. However, recent international problems, such as pandemics, wars in Europe and refugee crises around the world, have severely hampered cooperation towards the SDG goals. The UN system, which sounds the alarm on crises at the global level, is also facing economic difficulties. For much of its funding, the UN relies on voluntary contributions from developed governments in the global North. As Western democracies are accountable to their citizens for the expenditure of public funds, the understanding and cooperation of their citizens is essential for the sustainable operation of the UN as the governing body of the SDGs. The starting point for this study was the question of how to maintain and improve the voluntary financial contributions from developed countries on which the UN depends. Focusing on two regions - Europe, a normative force in the world, and Japan, which has the potential to further increase its contributions - the study sought to explain the phenomenon using the methodology of social constructivism in international relations. As a result, it has been possible to articulate a cultural difference in the context of these two regions, which share values in some respects and contrast sharply in others. The contribution of this study is that it has brought a step closer to the shape of European civilisation, which has a lot of internal diversity, by contrasting it with Japan, which is one of the Western countries but has a different historical background from Europe. Furthermore, the study used the methodology of cross- -cultural psychology to test whether the behaviour of the smallest cultural actors, the individual, has the same constructs as those found in the methodology of international relations among European students and young Japanese of similar age with a bachelor's degree. The general preference for European norms among them and the finding of three specific intercultural ideas strongly suggested the usefulness of the interaction between European and Japanese studies and between international relations and psychology as a methodology.

Keywords

Social Constructivism, Cross-cultural Psychology, UN, EU, Japan

Language used: Czech

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 2. 8. 2023

Thesis defence

• Supervisor: Francis Charles Bond, Ph.D.

Palacký University Olomouc

Faculty of Arts

Master programme / field:
Humanities / Euroculture