Suchergebnisse

"The volume presents findings from a systematic research project designed to measure the EU's external 'communication deficit' and to raise the level of its awareness in other regions through three perception levels: the study of EU images in news mass media production; a survey of general public perceptions and attitudes on the EU; and a survey of the elite perceptions of the EU." "Drawing on research from New Zealand, Australia, South Korea and Thailand, this book will be of interest to students and researchers of politics, communication studies, European studies and Asian studies."--Jacket

The world's leading economy, the EU, is emerging as an influential political power on the world stage. In particular, the EU's steady and profitable trade relations with Asia are being balanced increasingly with the growing political involvement of the EU in Asia. In this context, the EU's relations with the most powerful players in the Asian region (Japan specifically) is of a paramount interest to the political practitioners and scholars. This paper aims to provide a systematic account for the perceptions and images of the EU existing in Japan's public discourses of news media, national policy- and decision-makers, the business community and civil society. The reputable Japanese news media are found to portray the EU using neutral-to-positive assessments depicting it as a similarly thinking international partner, an important economic counterpart and a model to be critically considered for replication. Yet, the study argues a split in perceptions of the EU between Japan's political and business elites on the one hand, and the general public and civil society sector on the other, with the EU consistently 'slipping off the radars' of the latter.

Abstract. In 2002, Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations were initiated between the European Union (EU) and the Pacific Island states. As of 2009, interim EPAs have been initialled with two Pacific countries, while no agreements have been made with the remaining Islands. Why such meagre results? We offer an explanation to this puzzle by pinpointing fundamental incompatibilities in basic beliefs and role conceptions. Behind the superficial consensus on negotiation goals, we find incongruent understandings of what development means and of the role of EPAs in this context. We demonstrate the existence of incompatible role conceptions: the EU's representation of itself as a generous benign partner is contrasted with the Pacific view of the EU as a benign master. Furthermore, the EU was perceived throughout the Pacific as putting undue pressure on their negotiators during the negotiations. These findings can inform the EU's general role as a normative power: such power depends on shared understandings of basic ideas and values, as well as on coherence between EU rhetoric and practice.

Abstract. This paper scrutinizes the role of the European Commission Delegations (ECDs) in their contribution to the EU's public diplomacy efforts. With the ECDs' personnel being posted to 136 countries and territories, delegations naturally play a vital role in the promotion of the EU. This role becomes all the more important in some third countries, where the delegation might be the only permanent representative of the EU or its Member States, and could be logically seen as 'test labs' for the European External Action Service proposed by the Lisbon Treaty. Drawing on 242 face-to-face stakeholders' interviews conducted from 2003 until 2008 in ten Asia-Pacific locations, this paper attempts to identify third-party perspectives on how the ECDs could increase their effectiveness worldwide. It develops suggestions intended to maximize the ECDs' public diplomacy impact in the Asia-Pacific region and, consequently, to reinforce an image of EU solidarity around the world.

Contributing to the wider field of studies of international communication strategies by major international fora, this study investigates a scholarly vacuum – the role of visibility in the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). A novelty of this inquiry is that it is carried out on endogenous (i.e. deriving internally in ASEM) and exogenous (i.e. originating externally to ASEM) levels. Addressing the former perspective, this paper examines ASEM's official discourse and its vision of the role of visibility. Addressing the latter, exogenous perspective, the paper explores a rarely addressed dimension in ASEM studies, namely personal perceptions of the forum among Asian national elites (the opinions expressed by representatives of political, business, media and civil society circles in Japan, China, South Korea, Singapore and Thailand). The main rationale is to assess whether the degree of ASEM's visibility positively correlates to the direct involvement of the stakeholders into or to the achievement of the process. Positing its inquiry within a social constructivist perspective, this article argues that, instead of being conceptualised as the end-goal, visibility should be understood as an element in the construction of the Asia-Europe relations under the ASEM framework.

Asia and Europe have become increasingly interconnected over the last few decades; this growth in mutual interest is due largely to their economic, political, cultural, and historical ties to one another. Due to the deepening relationship between the two regions, it seems natural to ask, "How is the European Union perceived in Asia?" This question has become very relevant to Asia-Europe relations, especially as the EU is the most significant economic partner for many Asian countries, while at the same time emerging as an increasingly prominent political and security dialogue partner for the region. This second volume offers a new and reliable insight into the perception of the EU in Asia. In 2006, the Asia-Europe Foundation and National Centre for Research on Europe (University of Canterbury) created the European Studies in Asia (ESiA) Network and initiated the "EU through the Eyes of Asia" survey. This unprecedented comparative study looks at the attitudes and citizens' perceptions of the EU in Asia, and, by 2009, has been undertaken in 12 research sites throughout Asia. In each locality, the project systematically assessed daily representations of the EU in reputable local news media, as well as the EU's imagery among the general public and the EU's vision among the national stakeholders and opinion leaders. Presenting the findings of this project, this book provides a systematic and detailed empirical insight into EU visibility in the public discourses of three Southeast Asian countries - Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines - the so-called "VIP". The data and analyses in this work cover 2008 and the first half of 2009, and it compares the findings with those published in Volume I, which examined the perceptions of the EU in China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. EU through the Eyes of Asia is indispensable to policy-makers and opinion leaders in the Asian and European milieux, putting forward vital recommendations to the EU, Asian governments, the media and those managing relations between the two regions. Volume I was published in 2007 by ASEF and is available in the publication section of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) website; see http://www.asef.org for more details