Tokyo-Brussels Partnership: Security, Development and Knowledge-based Society (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Tokyo-Brussels Partnership: Security, Development and Knowledge-based Society Dimitri Vanoverbeke (bio) Tokyo-Brussels Partnership: Security, Development and Knowledge-based Society. Edited by Takako Ueta and Éric Remacle. Peter Lang, Brussels, 2008. 315 pages. $58.95, paper. This volume is a collection of selected papers from the eighth and ninth Japan-EU Cooperation Conferences. These annual conferences focus on the relationship between these two strategic partners and their wider regions without any restriction on topics or approaches. Beyond their methodological and disciplinary diversity, the conferences and their subsequent publications are noteworthy because they bring together high-level policymakers as well as leading academic specialists on Europe and Japan. Both Europe and Japan face an imperative need to reposition themselves on the rapidly shifting world scene. They increasingly look toward each other to play a prominent role in a newly multipolar world. This volume attempts in particular to cover those issues raised in the Lisbon Agenda that are relevant to the partnership between Japan and Europe, yet for obvious space-related reasons it could only focus on some of them. As the Lisbon Agenda's life span comes to a close, and the time for its critical assessment and renewal draws near, the publication of this book seems timely—in spite of the fact it was published four to five years after the conferences were held. The challenges that prompted the Lisbon Agenda in Europe remain valid today and must be addressed efficiently in the near future. Rather than covering [End Page 479] the relationship between Japan and Europe, the authors of the majority of the chapters analyze issues from the Japanese or European perspective and suggest possible elements of convergence in the future between the two regions. As such, this publication is a faithful reflection of the ambiguous relationship that has emerged between these two so-called "unconventional powers." With the conclusion of the 2001 Action Plan, a decade of intensified cooperation was launched between the European Union and Japan. However, the partnership's evolution has often been criticized as being more "plan" than "action." Nevertheless, as illustrated throughout the book, possible fields for common action remain plentiful. Most chapters of this book are symptomatic of the state of the art in comparative European-Japanese studies. Characterized by its disciplinary openness, the product of the Japan-EU conferences reflects the complex, uneven, and at times contradictory components of the EU-Japan dialogue. This book brings together and confronts a variety of disparate contributions that delve into different academic traditions, all of which have been engaged in analysis of the multifaceted Euro-Japanese relationship. Roughly three ongoing scientific dialogues on Euro-Japanese, and a fortiori Euro-Asian, affairs are reflected throughout the publication: an exercise in comparative area studies articulated through the specific exemplary contribution of the EU's regional experience; comparative analyses of the international political economies and socioeconomic regulatory frameworks on both sides; and issue-specific foreign policy analyses. Those chapters engaged with the comparative area studies effort offer a coherent vision of elements of convergence as well as divergence between the European and Asian experiences. The socioeconomic studies assess the relative merits of various policy options and seek to foster mutual learning dynamics, whereas the foreign policy contributions have squarely focused on the capacities and expectations associated with the EU-Japan partnership. Accordingly, this book offers timely contributions to these various dialogues while tentatively suggesting through its bridging effort a future interdisciplinary research agenda. Both the opening and closing contributions by Ambassador Takekazu Kawamura highlight possible avenues of Euro-Japanese cooperation. Economic reform and demographic changes are rightly pointed out as the issues most suited to the context of the partnership. The first two chapters in this book open with the conclusion of the Lisbon European Council stating that the European Union should strive to become "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of providing a sustainable economic growth, a better and greater social cohesion" (p. 53). Both Japan and Europe are trying to increase their economic competitiveness through issues such as "acceleration of accessibility and the improvement in the affordability of knowledge" (p. 25). [End Page 480] Issues like those...