Dynamic developments in the global political economy pose challenges to further political integration in western Europe. This book analyzes the recent evolution of relations between Japan and the European Union with particular attention to the phenomenon of foreign direct investment - the most tangible agent of globalization. The efficiency of integration as a means of organising western Europe’s relations with the world’s second economic power is assessed.

In posing the question ‘What does the European Union’s experience with Japan tell us about regional political integration?’ The book identifies difficulties in the series of assumptions concerning partnership, efficiency and competition, upon which the EU raison d'Atre is founded.