Commercial strategies and business engagement in the European Union's relations with Asia

This thesis examines the EU's commercial relations with Asia (in this case, South East Asia and North East Asia), with a particular focus on the investigation of the EU's commercial and business engagement at three different levels—transregional (ASEM), interregional (EUASEAN) relations and bilateral (EU–Thailand) relations—during the period 1994–2004. Its most general inspiration is the study of International Political Economy (IPE), particularly the interrelations and interactions between states and firms, or governments and business, in the changing global political economy. It argues that one can no longer conceive of EU–Asia commercial relationships during the post-Cold War period only as traditional government-to-government relations, but that business and firms (non-states) and the EU (a quasi-state) have become significant actors performing commercial roles alongside states in these relationships. [Continues.]