On March 25 2013 the EU-Japan Economic Partnership (EPA) negotiations were officially started. This happened after the EU and Japan had experienced a hiatus of nearly two years (following the end...Show moreOn March 25 2013 the EU-Japan Economic Partnership (EPA) negotiations were officially started. This happened after the EU and Japan had experienced a hiatus of nearly two years (following the end of the 2001 Action plan in May 2011) during which it was not sure whether another official document between the two would ever be signed. Even at the moment of writing this thesis, now that negotiations have started and both the EU and Japan aim to finish the negotiations by the end of the year, it remains to be seen whether or not the finalization of the agreement will become a reality. Thus far most of the negotiations have been characterized by the EU and Japan trying to harmonize their tariff-, non-tariff barriers and import regulations. These barriers and regulations have hindered their mutual trade relations for the past decades in key industries such as the automobile and electronics industry. Because of the protective nature of both the EU and Japan towards these key industries a comprehensive agreement has yet to be reached, although some deals have been made in selected areas, such as safety regulations in cars. This skepticism is what is reflected in the majority of scholarly articles published on the topic as well. However, from the perspective of neo-realist theory this does not make sense. Both the EU and Japan have had stagnating economies for the past years and both want to improve their global economic power; the EU in the Asian region and Japan in the western world. The EU recently signed a FTA with South-Korea and Japan is trying to finalize a similar agreement with the US. The same problems that hinder the EU and Japan for the past years should have hindered these agreements as well, but for some reason they have not. The neo-realist perspective of relative gains trumping absolute gains is thus not completely accurate on this topic. What I want to find out in this thesis is to what extent non-governmental actors (NGAs) have influenced the development of the EU-Japan EPA negotiations. In order to do this I will look at one of the most influential industries for both the EU and Japan: the automobile industry. If the negotiations have been significantly influenced by NGAs, meaning recommendations of said actors have systematically found themselves implemented in governmental policies on the matter, the primarily neo-realist perspective that has found itself implanted in the majority of conclusions of scholarly articles on the topic is not accurate. If my expectations turn out to be true, a shift towards neo-liberalism is more appropriate as it includes the influences of said NGAs.Show less
