Marie Söderberg

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.