Call for Papers

The European Japan Advanced Research Network (EJARN) will hold its 2020 annual conference entitled "EU-Japan Relations: Beyond the Strategic Partnership Agreement?" in Berlin on June 5-6, 2020.
The conference aims at bringing together academics, government officials and business representatives for in-depth discussions on the bilateral EU-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) as well as the Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) signed in July 2018. The conference's central theme focuses on EU-Japan cooperation in the areas of trade, energy security, connectivity, climate change and cyber security.
In times of increasing protectionism and challenges to free trade, the EU and Japan see the EPA and the SPA as key to support a rules-based international trade system with the WTO at the core. At the same time, the EPA and SPA underline the shared fundamental values and principles such as the rule of law, a strong commitment to human rights and joint support for the UN sustainable development goals.
The conference intends to evaluate the initial period since the EPA went into force in February 2019. We invite papers which analyze the progress of EU-Japan cooperation under the new rules as well as the effects of the EPA/FTA and the SPA on EU-Japan relations in a changing international environment.
If you are interested in participating, please send an abstract of your paper to Verena Blechinger-Talcott (vblechin@zedat.fu-berlin.de) no later than April 1, 2020.
EJARN has applied for funding for the conference, which will be held in cooperation with the Japanese-German Center Berlin, to support travel and accommodation during the conference.
(For more info on EJARN see https://www.hhs.se/en/research/institutes/eijs/ejarn/).
Please feel free to get in touch if you have any questions or need further information.

Prof. Dr. Verena Blechinger-Talcott
Professor of Japanese Politics and Political Economy
FU Berlin - Institute of East Asian Studies
Japanese Studies
Hittorfstr. 18
14195 Berlin
Germany

Phone +49-30-838-57104
Fax +49-30-838-457104