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This paper considers how the three sets of bilateral relations, between the European Union (EU) and Japan, the EU and Turkey, and Turkey and Japan, have developed (or been underdeveloped) and how the three have failed to form a strategic triangle that could potentially be beneficial for dealing with regional and international problems more efficiently. One of the main arguments is that, although all three sides of this triangle have developed significant economic relationships, their political relationships are less consolidated. Such a phenomenon is largely illustrated by the following three elements of this triangle: a deteriorated relationship between the EU and Turkey, an underutilised relationship between Japan and the EU, and an extant relationship between Japan and Turkey. This paper analyses the elements that have impeded or continue to hinder constructive political dialogue. It concludes that the potential for improvement in the three sets of bilateral relations is slight, in the short term, with Japan, in particular, finding it increasingly difficult to strike a good balance between developing the relationship with the EU while maintaining historical ties with Turkey.

This article focuses on the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (epas) which form the central focus of the commitments made in the Cotonou Agreement, signed in 2000 by the European Union and the African, Caribbean and Pacific (acp) states. epas are part of a much wider trend witnessed since the creation of the World Trade Organization (wto), characterised by the proliferation of bilateral free trade agreements. The article argues that both the material and ideational interests of the EU need to be considered alongside the historical context of EU-acp relations. The EU is making a concerted effort to 'lock in' neoliberalism across the seven different sub-regions of the acp group by negotiating epas that include both reciprocal trade liberalisation and various 'trade-related' issues. In this way epas will go beyond the requirements for wto compatibility, resulting in a reduction of the policy space for acp states to pursue alternative development strategies. The article then considers the potential developmental impact of epas with reference to the negotiations with seven of the 15 member states of the Southern African Development Community (sadc). It is argued that the EU is promoting 'open regionalism', which poses a threat to the coherence of the regional project in southern Africa.

In their article, James Hollifield and Michael Sharpe argue that Japan is an “emerging migration state” due to its increased efforts to liberalize the rights accorded to migrants. However, this paper argues that Japan’s exercise of “side-door immigration policies” like the Economic Partnership Agreements does not warrant such assessment of Japan. The notion of “migration state,” from Hollifield (1998, Hollifield, International Migration Review 38:885–912, 2004), requires a state to be constrained by “embedded liberalism” and “rights-based politics.” These necessary conditions of a “migration state,” however, must be understood in the context of a free-market flow of migration, which contemporary Japan does not exhibit.

Events of the past few years, including the Brexit vote in the United Kingdom and the demise of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and election of Donald Trump as president in the United States, have reignited debates about the global trade regime. With anti-trade populism seemingly on the rise in Europe and the United States, many have begun to question whether the trade regime has done enough for those who feel left behind by globalization. While some have held fast to the view that redistribution of trade's gains is primarily a matter of domestic policy, others have suggested tweaks to international trade agreements aimed at better spreading the wealth

Japan has accepted nurses from Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam under the Economic Partnership Agreement, but nearly half of them have already left the workforce. This study aimed to clarify the factors related to the job continuance of nurses who migrated to Japan under the Economic Partnership Agreement. Our goal was to explore factors specific to migrant nurses and to contribute to the development of support measures for them. This research was a cross-sectional study in which a web-based questionnaire and interview were conducted at a single point in time. Migrant nurses (n = 40) participated in the web-based questionnaire survey. Of those, nine nurses were also interviewed. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient was used to establish correlations, and qualitative descriptive analysis was used to analyse interviews. The questionnaire survey results revealed the content of work, human relationships in the workplace, the number of night shifts, and satisfaction with the balance between work and private life were significantly and negatively correlated with the Intention to Quit scale total score. All correlation coefficients were less than 0.5, indicating weak correlations. Three categories emerged from the interviews as positive factors related to job continuance: “generous support from the workplace”, “beneficial nursing experience in Japan”, and “determination to live in Japan”. A good working environment, generous support from the supervisor and colleagues, high values of nursing in Japan, and desire to migrate to Japan were the factors that had a positive effect on migrant nurses’ job continuance in Japan. Understanding the characteristics of migrant nurses and providing generous support will enable them to continue working in Japan. This study was not registered.

This article examines Japan’s trade policy on significant geo-economic developments by focusing on its engagement in three large free trade agreements: the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, and the Japan–EU Economic Partnership Agreement. Under the Abe administration, Japan has produced successful outcomes in mega-FTA strategy, concluding the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Japan–EU Economic Partnership Agreement in 2018. The making and diffusion of high-standard rules were given high priority in Japan’s mega-FTA strategy, and Prime Minister Abe’s political leadership in employing his political allies and executive aides and managing the opposition activities of veto players has enabled his administration to produce these successful outcomes.

Objective: The aim of the paper is to prove that in a world where instability is increasing and security is reduced, the EU and Japan are fulfilling their obligation to bear special responsibility for the implementation of the common western values they represent. Research Design & Methods: The research method is based on the critical review of literature and the analysis of source materials (the texts of the Agreements and official documents). We run a policy analysis. We examine the law as a tool for policy implementation (New International Legal Process). We draw conclusions based on them. Findings: The EU-Japan Agreements confirm the community of values on which they are embedded and create conditions for strengthening these values. Contribution & Value Added: The contribution is here that we show the importance of Agreements between the EU and Japan, which stems from both endogenous factors, resulting from economic and political potentials of the Parties; as well as from the exogenous factors, in the form of external determinants of cooperation, such as recent turbulence in US politics.

On 15 October 2008, CARIFORUM became the first region among the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group of countries to sign a 'full' Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with the European Union (EU). Although the EPA process has generated widespread critical commentary, few analysts have stopped to consider the motives of individual ACP countries and regions in their approach to the talks. In this article we consider the question of motives in relation to the CARIFORUM-EU EPA. Specifically, it asks why did CARIFORUM feel it necessary or desirable to sign a 'full' EPA, containing numerous provisions not actually mandated by the WTO, when the rest of the ACP was content to sign far less ambitious 'goods only' interim agreements? In order to address this question, the article goes beyond the extant EU-ACP trade literature to build on wider international political economy (IPE) scholarship, which has analysed the actions of developing countries in relation to a whole range of 'WTO-plus' North-South regional and bilateral FTAs. On this basis, the article stands back from the complex details of the agreement to analyse its wider significance, especially in terms of the presumed trade-off between the immediate economic benefits of improved and more secure market access, against the longer term costs of sacrificing the regulatory autonomy, or policy space, deemed necessary to pursue the type of trade and industrial policies deployed successfully in the past by both developed and (some) developing countries. Put simply, the article seeks to ascertain why ultimately CARIFORUM signed an agreement, what it gained from the negotiations and at what cost.

When the Lisbon Treaty entered into effect, the European Parliament became a core player in the decision-making processes of the EU’s Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) and its external dimensions. This new role suggested a shift towards stronger politicization in what had previously been a rather technocratic policy field. However, the CFP is not yet marked by a clear and consistent level of politicization. I use the concept of ‘layered politicization’ to explain this pattern. Although it is not comparable to the degree of political controversy shaping fully politicized policy fields, some similar political dynamics can be observed. Among them is a transformation in the policy process due to higher ratification requirements; a higher likelihood of political deadlock resulting from an increasing number of veto-players; and a strengthening of the contested legitimacy of EU decision-making. An empirical test of these theoretical propositions is provided here in the form of two case studies; the negotiation of Fisheries Partnership Agreements with Morocco and Mauritania.