International trade has become a critical issue largely because national economies are now more open to flows of imports and exports than ever. Yet, markets and economic forces alone cannot account for the structure and the functioning of the global trade. Both international markets and policies of nation-states need to be taken into account to determine the ways in which the world trade functions. How can we explain the trade policy choices that nation-states make? Can theories help us to understand the nature of international trade relations? Much of economic research in international trade remains interested in three issues: the composition and direction of trade flows, trade barriers, and the welfare effects of trade at national and international scale. In contrast, political scientists look at how the preferences of domestic policy for either protectionist or free trade are formed, how domestic political institutions may affect trade policy, how international factors shape trade policy choices, and whether and how international trade itself may affects states and the international political system. Both political and economic analysis will be used to explain the actual functioning and evolution of global trade.
The course will explore political and economic factors that explain international trade policy choices, with a focus on the international dimension of these choices. The course will bring attention to the fact that the choices of states and other actors in international trade are based not only on the efficiency and on mutual benefits of economic exchanges or domestic preferences and institutions, but are also informed by the relative distribution of gains among states and other international actors from international markets’ activities. Particular attention will be devoted to the role of international institutions and regimes (e.g. the WTO and preferential trade agreements) and look at how they affect trade policy in both developed and developing countries, especially how multinationals and powerful states attempt to use their power to influence these policies. The course will also focus on the political purposes, rivalries, and cooperation between states, which create the framework of political relations within which market forces operate and set the rules that market actors must follow and vice versa how market forces shape the policies and interests of individual states and the political relations among states.
- Učitel: Enika Abazi