Patrik Ström

The global economy faces interconnected challenges involving economic recovery, climate change, and rising geopolitical tensions, as post-pandemic conditions have intensified financial instability and disrupted global value chains. Central to these dynamics is the transition toward a green economy, shaped by diverse national contexts; however, rising costs, technological barriers, and intensified competition—particularly in electric vehicles—have slowed progress and exposed tensions between sustainability and profitability. While firms struggle to balance green investments with financial viability, policymakers increasingly adopt strategic interventions to protect industrial competitiveness, though the uneven distribution of transition costs and benefits is further complicated by geopolitical fragmentation. Consequently, this special issue seeks to advance understanding of these dynamics, with particular attention to how developments in Asia and Europe are interconnected and mutually shaping pathways toward sustainable economic transformation.

This introduction sets the stage for the monograph’s analysis of the EU and Japan’s role in the Indo-Pacific. It starts with identifying both the importance of the Indo-Pacific for each of these actors and the increasing importance of the common ties in the contemporary precarious era marked by increasing geopolitical competition amid the retrenchment of the Liberal International Order. The signature of the Economic and Strategic Partnership in 2018/19 has laid the foundation for fostering ties between the EU and Japan, and the Indo-Pacific, home to critical sea lanes, supply chains, and security tensions, has emerged as one of the key arenas where this cooperation proceeds. While these empirical developments are pregnantly laid out, the Introduction proceeds with clarifying some conceptual grounds on which the monograph is built, revolving around strategic partnerships, geopolitics/geoeconomics, and the ideas of symmetry and asymmetry. Finally, we introduce the chapters of this book and show how they contribute to both the discussions about Japan–EU relations and broader questions on the structuring of International Relations.

This conclusion reviews the advances of the presented monograph, and offers several particular ways in which the findings can serve for future research. These include the inquiry into the shape and institutionalisation of the Indo-Pacific, security coordination of the EU–Japan relationship in the unhinged global system, the need to foster economic security and possibilities of further cooperation in fields of, inter alia, digital economy and climate technology.

This book evaluates the deepening accord the EU and Japan hold in the Indo-Pacific region, in terms of security, economy and values.

Focusing on the contemporary period after Japan and the EU signed Strategic and Economic Partnership Agreements in 2018, the book analyses both general outlooks and world visions of the two, and the practical programs and initiatives in the Indo-Pacific through which these are achieved. By exploring both actors’ perception of the Indo-Pacific in historical, intellectual, and political contexts, and its contemporary political interests within security, environmental and economic dimensions, the book demonstrates how closely the duo’s roles in the region are connected.

Revealing the changing contours of the EU-Japan partnership in the Indo-Pacific, this will be a valuable resource to students and scholars of geopolitics, economic geography and international relations, particularly of Japan, the EU and the Indo-Pacific.

Geopolitics on the macro level is closely intertwined with trade and business relations on the firm level. Despite the importance of the interconnectedness of the macro and micro levels, this has not yet been addressed in depth. This chapter starts with discussing the origins and development of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy, reflecting the positions of Japan and the EU. We present two industry cases highlighting the importance of a “free” and “open” Indo-Pacific for trade flows as well as strategic autonomy for Japan and the EU. The first case shows how Japan is highly dependent on energy imports, which require secure maritime routes. The second case highlights that the automotive industry has been one of the sectors that benefited from the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Thus, open maritime routes in the Indo-Pacific region are essential on the firm-level for both Japan and the EU. The chapter illustrates how FOIP is a natural component of Japan’s trade diplomacy and is essential for European trade with Asia. International trade plays an important role not only for strategic autonomy but also for revitalising the Japanese economy. Firms are the operational level of possibilities provided by frameworks on the macro level. Therefore, the firm perspective on EPA and Indo-Pacific provides new and important insights for future development of EU–Japan relations. © 2027 selection and editorial matter, Michal Kolmaš and Patrik Ström; individual chapters, the contributors. All rights reserved.

International services present a challenge for policy work. Their nature resists straightforward characterization, making it difficult to design effective and targeted policies. Research across international business, economic geography, and service management has also grappled with this complexity for years; yet a cohesive, unified, and actionable understanding of international service characteristics remains missing. We examine these complexities with the aim of identifying the central characteristics of international services and how they can be utilized in research and policy. Using three recognized core challenges in international services research as a point of departure, we develop an integrative framework that enables the characterization of all international services for research and policy purposes. The framework consists of four interconnected components: the connectivity of international services to their environment, the configuration of service activities within international organizational setups, the collaborative international interaction between global service actors, and the value creation of international services. We demonstrate how the framework serves as a conceptual tool for research and a practical guide for policy work. We advance international service management research with an interdisciplinary, cohesive, and actionable framework that enables the characterization of international services and policy by providing ways to shape effective global service policies.

The relationship between Japan and the EU has developed and matured over the last decades. It comprises both the complex economic relations that were recently formalized in the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA), and the subsequent Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) that covers a broader set of political issues. Here, we are addressing the trade diplomacy interaction that has been associated with the long negotiation process between Japan and the EU. This article seeks to answer the following question: How has the geopolitical relationship between Japan and the EU evolved based on the context forming the EPA? The empirical section discusses the development that led to the establishment of the EPA and the SPA, as well as to the current relationship and additional agreements. Our findings suggest that the EPA has been central to the deepened political cooperation between Tokyo and Brussels, emphasizing the role of an FTA in contributing to the solidifying of a changing geopolitical order.

Decentralised finance (DeFi) is rapidly transforming financial services through the use of smart contracts and blockchain technology. The exponential growth of DeFi has attracted significant attention from both researchers and policymakers, highlighting its potential to disrupt traditional finance. However, regulating DeFi presents unique challenges due to its complexities around decentralisation, permissionless nature and trans-jurisdictional reach, creating governance difficulties reminiscent of those found in offshore jurisdictions. To conceptualise these issues, this article develops and applies a novel two-part analytical framework derived from the study of offshore finance. The framework integrates a mapping of core functional mechanisms (e.g., regulatory arbitrage, asset opacity) with a layered architectural model that distinguishes between a foundational settlement layer and an application layer where business entities operate. Our analysis reveals that while regulatory challenges manifest at the application layer, their persistence is enabled by the de-territorialised and competitive nature of the underlying settlement layer. The article contributes to financial geography by providing a robust analytical framework for DeFi, using it to deliver a nuanced analysis of its unique spatial dynamics, and drawing concrete, cautionary lessons for future regulation.