Advancing the EU-Japan strategic partnership in a transforming global environment: challenges, opportunities and prospects

Since the end of World War II, (Western) Europe and Japan have been bound by their common belonging to the ‘wider West’. They have served as two reliable strongholds of a fairly cohesive politico-economic bloc led by the United States (US) and coalesced around shared values such as democracy, human rights, rule of law, market economy, and a genuinely interested attachment to an essentially Liberal world order. But both parties are being confronted by the effects of the uneasy transition to a multipolar world order, marked by increasing instability both at the global and regional levels. In this Policy Brief, Andrea Frontini analyses the current state of play and the future prospects of EU-Japan relations, arguing that their cooperation has to be further nurtured if the two sides want to make it a truly strategic asset to address the challenges, and seize the opportunities, of the rapidly evolving landscape of international politics.