Japan's New Regional Reality offers a comprehensive analysis of Japan's geoeconomic strategy that reveals the country's role in shaping regional economic order in the Asia-Pacific. Saori N. Katada explains Japanese foreign economic policy in light of both international and domestic dynamics.
An unacknowledged key feature of East Asian FTA diplomacy is the region's active cross-regional preferential trading relations. In sharp contrast to the Americas and Europe, where cross-regional initiatives gained strength after the consolidation of regional trade integration, East Asian governments negotiate trade deals with partners outside of their region at an early stage in their FTA policies. The book asks three main questions: Are there regional factors in East Asia encouraging countries to explore cross-regionalism early on? What are the most important criteria behind the cross-regional partner selection? How do cross-regional FTSs (CRTAs) influence their intra-regional trade initiatives? Through detailed country case studies from China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia, we show the ways in which these governments seek to leverage their CRTAs in the pursuit of intra-regional trade integration objectives, a process that yields a much more permeated regionalism.
Since September 11 2001, the global ability to manage international problems and conflicts has faced major challenges. This capacity rests on the power and influence of key players in the international system; obviously, the United States plays a pivotal role, but while most analyses of international relations have designated Russia and China the next most influential actors, the major economic powers of Germany and Japan also have important roles to play. These two countries together represent two-thirds of the size of the US economy and with America account for more than half of global gross product. This engaging analysis focuses on the foreign policies of these two countries, their attitudes and policies towards the United States, the international institutions of Pax Americana, regional and international co-operation and conflict, and towards compliance and sanctions against non-compliance. Intellectually innovative, this comparative work is ideally suited to courses on global governance, comparative politics and foreign policy.