This title was first published in 2002. This volume aims to provide fresh insight into the complex struggles of the European Union (EU) institutions and the member states over who should negotiate trade issues on Europe's behalf. The book makes effective use of new empirical data on the daily operations of European trade policy based on interviews with high-ranking trade officials. Furthermore, this text is the first institutionalist analysis of the Amsterdam and Nice Intergovernmental Con...

The approach of Latin American countries to preferential trade agreements (PTAs) is a fascinating topic. There is a rich history of policymakers using PTAs to pursue different economic and political models of integration. What really stands out is the diversity of approaches and attitudes to the use of PTAs. While some countries have been rule-makers and have made innovative attempts to introduce new issues, others have been reluctant to use PTAs. In response to the growing interest in and...

The Concept Design of a 21st Century Preferential Trade Agreement describes the current status and possible future evolution of trade agreements. The individual contributions provide fine-grained analyses of the various challenges trade agreements face and how these differ across countries. The book brings together leading researchers from international law and international relations to provide conceptual and empirical insights to inform the ongoing reform debates. By taking stock of scho...

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) have been proliferating for more than two decades, with the negotiations for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and a Trans-Pacific Partnership being just the tip of the iceberg. This volume addresses some of the most pressing issues related to the surge of these agreements. It includes chapters written by leading political scientists, economists and lawyers which theoretically and empirically advance our understanding of trade agreements....

The post-Cold War era has seen an unprecedented move towards more legalization in international cooperation and a growth of third-party dispute settlement systems. WTO panels, the Appellate Body and investor-state dispute settlement cases have received increasing attention beyond the core trade and investment constituencies within governments. Scrutiny by business, civil society, academia, and trade and investment experts has been on the rise. This book asks whether we observe a transforma...

The European Union is a key actor in international economic governance. Through its foreign economic policies it plays a central role in the negotiation of international trade agreements, the global regulation of the financial services sector, and the provision of aid to developing countries. This book shows how principal-agent theory can be used to shed new light on this complex of policy areas. In particular, the contributions to this volume analyze delegation, control, and agent strateg...

Today's trade regime and its rules are under pressure. Increasing societal discontent with globalization and the rise of protectionist measures threaten the trade regime's legitimacy and effectiveness. The authors explore systemic challenges to the trade regime, inter alia, related to development, migration, inequality, the digital economy and climate change. The Shifting Landscape of Global Trade Governance allows the readers, in times of change, to put current developments into context a...

Like many other international organizations, the World Trade Organization stands at a crossroads. There is an obvious imbalance between the organization's dispute settlement arm and its negotiation platform. While its current rules, supported by a strong dispute settlement system, have provided some buffering against the negative effects of the financial crises, its negotiation machinery has not produced any substantial outcomes since the late 1990s. It has become obvious that the old way ...

The World Trade Organization (WTO) recently celebrated twenty years of existence. The general wisdom is that its dispute settlement institutions work well and its negotiation machinery goes through a phase of prolonged crises. Assessing the World Trade Organization overcomes this myopic view and takes stock of the WTO's achievements whilst going beyond existing disciplinary narratives. With chapters written by scholars who have closely observed the development of the WTO in recent years, t...