On January 24-25, 2020, the Centre of Japanese Research at IAR/SPPGA will be holding a major global symposium to explore the theme of Japan's increased leadership in support of the rules-based international order since 2016. The symposium aims at evaluating the phenomenon across dimensions of trade, G20, climate change, security cooperation, and its limits, explaining it, and drawing implications for Canada's own commitment to the rules-based international order. Key scholars, think tank leaders, and former officials will be attending from Japan, Canada, the United States, and other places. This event is open to the UBC and CJR community. Further information will follow soon.
Research Questions:
· How significant is Japan's new leadership in global trade leadership from CPTPP to EU-Japan FTA, US-Japan bilateral management, WTO reforms, stabilization with China, and role in RCEP?
· What is driving this change?
· Do we see a larger pattern of Japan's leadership in the Global Liberal Order, including its G20 chairmanship, statements on climate change (Eg Davos speech)?
· Where has Japan's leadership been limited, and what are the constraints?
· What implications and potential for Japan-Canada relations (including over WTO reform)?
Themes:
1. Strategic repositioning of Japan in the international system at a time of disruption.
2. CPTPP
3. Japan-US Relations writ large (trade deal, defence alliance, FOIP, others).
4. Other Trade diplomacy: EU-Japan, RCEP, etc.
5. G20
6. Climate change and Paris Agreement
7. Others (IMF, WB, AIIB, Oceans, IWC)
Planned Output:
-
Every participant is preparing a 3-5 think piece paper, to be published in a compendium after the conference (deadline for submission: Jan 17)
- Workshop participants will discuss the possibility of publishing an edited journal (JJPS, JEAS, Asian Survey?) or a book.
Confirmed Participants and Titles (to be updated):
·
Saori Katada, UCSC
·
Grace Jaramillo, APFC, topic: "
CPTPP in the midst the of US-China Trade War. How Japan has performed so far and what has been the consequences for its leading Global Value Chains across the Pacific Rim."
·
TJ Pempel, UC Berkeley
·
Mark Manger, Munk School, Toronto: "
An end to capital openness? How Japan deals with inward FDI"
·
David Welch, U Waterloo, "
Engaging China's hot-button maritime and territorial disputes"
·
Jeff Kucharski, Royal Roads University, "
Japan, FOIP and the geopolitics of energy in the Indo-Pacific"
·
Hideaki Miyajima, Vice President, Waseda University
·
Mireya Solis, Brookings Institution,
·
Harukata Takenaka, GRIPS topic: "
New Normal!!: Proactive Japan and Transformed Domestic Politics"
·
Philip Lipscy, Munk School, University Toronto: "
Japan and International Organizations in the Liberal International Order"
·
Joseph Caron, UBC, former Ambassador of Canada to Japan
·
Vinod Aggarwal, UC Berkeley
·
Alan Alexandroff, U Toronto, topic: "
Can Japan lead the way to effective multilateralism?"
·
Kristi Govella, Hawaii University: "
Coping with Competition in the Global Commons: Japan in the Outer Space, Cyberspace, and Maritime Domains."
·
Leslie Armijo, SFU
·
Don Campbell, former Ambassador of Canada to Japan
·
Masahiro Kawai, former ADBI President, Tokyo University: "
FOIP and BRI: Is convergence possible?" (tentative)
·
Jeff Reeves, APFC
·
Yves Tiberghien, UBC (Political Science and CJR Co-Director): "
Rules and Order as National Interest: Explaining Japan's Leadership in the CPTPP, EU-Japan FTA, and RCEP"
