Dialogue without cooperation? Diplomatic implications of EU-Japan summits

The European Union (EU) and Japan have held annual bilateral summits since 1991; however, little cooperation has been achieved between the two parties. The existing literature on summitry meetings fail to account for this puzzling observation. This dissertation instead argues that the symbolic aspects of summits are the driving force behind the rise and continuation of EU-Japan summits because they essentially indicate the status of the EU and Japan in international relations.