Forum Shopping Workshop

When: 10.21.2004 - 10.22.2004

This conference showcased the research of three academics working on issues of the International Political Economy of Japan, Saadia Pekkanen of the University of Washington, Mireya Solis of American University, and Saori Katada of USC. The following questions were posed: Why does the Japanese government turn to multiple forums, bilateral, regional and multilateral to accomplish its economic goals, especially that of trade liberalization? What are the criteria and factors that make the government choose one forum over the other? How particular are our observations of Japan among other advanced country governments, or are there any generalizable elements? In addition to several roundtable discussions, the conference was opened to a wider audience as part of the CIS Research Series.