The European Council on Foreign Relations

Japanese lessons - Waving or drowning?

Date: 9th May 2012 | Author: Nicholas Walton,

Categories: Euro Crisis, Europe and the world, Reinventing Europe,

Few things make Europe's problems seem a long, long way away like 43° heat and fabulous wealth. But, as I walked along the seafront Corniche in Doha just 48 hours ago, I was thinking about just where Europe goes from here.

I was listening to a couple of thought-provoking podcast programmes on my ipod. First up there was an episode of (the ever-excellent) Peter Day's World of Business that looked at Japan's economic situation and asked whether it was waving or drowning. Noriko Hama argued that it was, as is widely believed, drowning, thanks to massive debts, deflation, insularity and demographic catastrophe.

Not so, argued Eamonn Fingleton. His reasoning made interesting listening to a European. He was dismissive of the problems associated with debt, and instead emphasised Japanese strengths, such as its ability to produce extremely high-spec products, making it clear that he

The EU is showing its teeth

Date: 16th April 2012 | Author: Nicu Popescu,

Categories: Europe and the world,

It is standard practice to bash Catherine Ashton and how the External Action Service turned out. The story is of an inward looking institution, without having a grand narrative or strategic vision, and little credibility in either EU member states or EU’s external partners. It is hard to argue that EU foreign policy is doing well. But that is first and foremost because of structural factors – the economic crisis that drastically reduces EU’s foreign policy appetite and resources, as well as soft power appeal (see the Scorecard 2012 for a similar assessment).

It is perhaps time to reconsider at least some of the standard, off the cuff, assessments of the EEAS. If one looks at some specific foreign policy dossiers, the reality is that of a gradually emerging political animal that can show its teeth if and when necessary (were the Soviet Union alive, its propaganda department would

How the world views Europe: Sergei Utkin on Russia

Date: 5th April 2012 | Author: Nicholas Walton,

Categories: Europe and the world, Wider Europe, Reinventing Europe,

As part of our 'Reinvention of Europe' project, ECFR co-organised* a conference in Prague to examine how Europe is seen by other important global powers. Six eminent academics and thinkers gave their thoughts from the viewpoint of China, Turkey, India, Brazil, Japan and Russia. I recorded interviews with all six, which are being published as podcasts, and also gathering up the abstracts of the papers that each one presented in this short series of blog posts.

In the fifth of the series we hear from Sergei Utkin, from the Institute of World Economy and International Affairs in Moscow. Here's the podcast interview with him, and here's a short introduction to his thoughts:

When looking at Europe, Russia first of all focuses upon its own place in the continent’s international landscape. The country’s political elite, as well as the population at large have a complex of being

How the world views Europe: Ryo Oshiba on Japan

Date: 5th April 2012 | Author: Nicholas Walton,

Categories: Europe and the world, Reinventing Europe,

This fourth post is from Ryo Oshiba of Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo. Here is a short interview with him, and here's an outline of his thoughts:

Japanese scholars of international relations have been very much interested in Europe and the European Union from various perspectives. From a Japanese perspective the West still plays a crucial role as the anchor of World Order. Interest in Europe is partly influenced by

How the world views Europe: Atila Eralp on Turkey

Date: 29th March 2012 | Author: Nicholas Walton,

Categories: Euro Crisis, Europe and the world, Wider Europe, Reinventing Europe,

This third post is from Atila Eralp of the Middle East Technical University in Ankara. Here is a short audio interview, and here's an outline of his thoughts:

Is the issue of cooperation and integration with Europe turned now a preference for an instrumental partnership, rather than a normative goal or a strategic vision shared by Turkish policy-makers, civil society and the public?

An answer to this question is

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