Japan, the European Union and Global Governance by Eiji Ogawa et al.

Abstract

Reviewed by: Japan, the European Union and Global Governance by Eiji Ogawa et al. Marie Söderberg (bio) Japan, the European Union and Global Governance. Edited by Eiji Ogawa, Kolja Raube, Dimitri Vanoverbeke, and Jan Wouters with Camille Van der Vorst. Edward Elgar, 2021. xii, 243 pages. $125.00, cloth; $40.00, E-book. The literature on EU-Japan relations, especially in the field of global governance, has so far been rather limited. The reason for this, from a historical point of view, is that those relations, always much talked about, have been weak with few mutual initiatives or actions. The nine chapters in this [End Page 259] book offer different angles on the EU-Japan relationship. Their goal is to understand and assess the growing cooperation and solidarity between the EU and Japan, not only in the field of economics where relations have been intensive, but also in the field of politics, in the midst of growing global tension. While other books have taken broader perspectives such as geopolitical changes with the rise of China and crises of liberalism and the U.S. role in changing EU-Japan relations, 1 this book focuses more on the EU and Japan as actors and not on in-depth analyses of surrounding factors that affect the relationship. In 2018 both an economic partnership agreement (EPA) and a strategic partnership agreement (SPA) based on shared norms and values were signed. And in 2019 the signing of the Partnership on Sustainable Connectivity and Quality Infrastructure with its objective to "promote free, open, rule based, fair, nondiscriminatory and predictable regional and international trade and investment" aimed at cooperation in the development of infrastructure in Europe and Asia and formation of an alternative to the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). What is driving all these new EU-Japan initiatives and how should we assess their impact on global governance? That is the question the book wants to answer. The volume takes a multidisciplinary view, mostly from various economic perspectives, even if economics and politics nowadays seem more interconnected than ever. Sometimes the relationship is seen here from an EU perspective and sometimes from a Japanese one. The first part of the book situates EU-Japan cooperation in global governance. The chapter by Kolje Raube, Alex Andrione-Moyne, and Jan Wouters frames cooperation within the EU's multilateral approach to global governance where the EU integration project itself can be seen as a kind of multilateral cooperation. Although EU policy objectives were considered to be best served in an international system based on rules and multilateralism, this has not ruled out other forms of cooperation such as bilateralism, and here EU-Japan relations constitute a key strategic relationship. Recently, however, non-Western powers have gained more power and started to question the existing multilateral order. So did the United States under the administration of Donald Trump and so also have certain European states. The EU faces problems adapting to this new world order. This chapter looks at the EU's normative commitment to multilateralism and its international practice in times of contestation. It shows how the EU is reorienting toward an "interest focused" geopolitical outlook where Japan can be seen as an anchoring partner in Asia. Ryo Oshiba mainly takes a historical perspective to research Japanese involvement in financial governance in the World Bank and the G7 summits. [End Page 260] His chapter looks for lessons learned from Japan's past experience with the Asian financial crisis, among others. Some conclusions are drawn about the role Japan can play in global governance. According to this author, the Japanese experience in development finance indicates that Japan will be able to present a development model that synthesizes the Chinese and Western models. Both the Japanese East Asian Miracle model and the Chinese model emphasize the role of government in promoting economic growth. The author forgets to point out that the East Asian Miracle report was heavily criticized at the time of its publication (1993) and proof was presented that it might not have been economic intervention by governments that created growth in East Asia. Rather, growth was created through superior accumulation of physical and human capital and the...