The European Union (EU) has behaved as an international actor in a variety of fields/issues. In this context, the EU has accumulated 'political relations' with Japan. The EU-Japan political relations have revolved around various fields/issues: trade, investment, industrial cooperation, finance, agriculture, development aid, energy, environment protection, and even military security.
The EU and Japan have several frameworks for political dialogue. Several Japanese ministries, particularly Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), have been the dialogue partners with the EU. Since the Lisbon Treaty came into force, European External Action Service (EEAS) has been the significant dialogue partner with the MoFA.
The annual summit meeting between the EU and Japan has been held since July 1991, when the first Joint Declaration was adopted in The Hague. Ten years later, in December 2001, they adopted 'Sharing Our Common Future: An Action Plan for EU-Japan Cooperation'. This joint document has annually reviewed for a decade, and a new political/framework agreement is under consideration, together with an EU-Japan FTA/EPA.
This seminar-class will examine those developments in EU-Japan political relations.
On the first day of this seminar-class, you will be offered some themes or questions on EU-Japan political relations. You will write a short essay and present it for the seminar-class. We will discuss the theme/question, which he/she chooses for his/her essay. We will also welcome a few guest speakers. The following course schedule may accordingly change.