"The European Union, the United States and Japan: Structure, Action and Interaction"

Smith, Michael. (1995) "The European Union, the United States and Japan: Structure, Action and Interaction". In: UNSPECIFIED, Charleston, South Carolina. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

This paper is very much a preliminary stab at the further development of work already undertaken by the author on the external economic policies of the EU and the EU's role as an international actor. It arises from attempt to define the demand for external policy carried out through the EU and the ways in which a supply of such policy can be ensured through the different modes of EU policy formation and implementation. It focuses on the formation of EU policies within the 'triad' or the 'triangle' of EU/US/Japan relations, and assesses contrasting approaches to the structures, actions and interactions which characterise them. The conclusion is that conventional 'state-referential' or quasi-mercantilist notions of foreign economic policy in the EU context need to be viewed critically and in the light of a changing world economy best exemplified by the relations between the EU and its major industrial and commercial partners. As a consequence, a form of EU policy making based on complexity of structure, 'negotiated order, the 'capacity to interact' and a 'critical liberal institutionalist' awareness is advanced as a framework for further research and analysis.

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