Japan and EU - Stepping Up Cooperation to save the Liberal World Order

The rise of a more assertive China is causing concerns. So is Donald Trump’s policy of “America first” which puts further questions to the liberal world order. The US’s two main liberal partners have been made aware of the fact that multilateralism is no longer a priority for the US that has broken the Iran nuclear deal as well as the Paris climate agreement. Under these circumstances, Japan and EU got their act together and signed several agreements to step up strategic cooperation. This seminar gave a historic perspective on Japan-EU relations and followed the developments until today. It also reflected on the role of Canada in connection with this.

Speaker bio:

Marie Söderberg is the Director of the European Institute of Japanese Studies and an adjunct professor of Stockholm School of Economics. She has a Ph.D. from Stockholm University in 1986. She has published on Europe-Japan relations, Japanese Influences in Asia, Japan-China, Japan-North Korea and Japan South Korea relations. A central focus of her research is Japanese foreign aid policy. She is the senior editor of the European Institute of Japanese Studies, East Asian Economics and Business Studies, a book series published by Routledge. She is also the Chairperson of EJARN’s (European Japan Advanced Research Network) executive committee.