The Emergence of Japan's Foreign Aid Power examines the forces which influence Japan's economic assistance to the developing world. Robert M. Orr discusses the lengthy decision-making process that the Japanese government requires in aid decisions, showing how widespread bureaucratic conflicts among four principal agencies have impeded the development of a concrete aid policy. He argues that these conflicts have also created a tendency for the private sector to play a large role in aid policy. Orr also examines the role played by foreign aid in the economic and political relations between the United States and Japan, and the nature and extent of U.S. influence on the foreign aid programme, exploring the historical and psychological reasons for the special role played by the U.S.