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PO9C1-20 Issues and Cases in the Politics of International Trade

Department
Politics & International Studies
Level
Taught Postgraduate Level
Module leader
Dominic Kelly
Credit value
20
Module duration
10 weeks
Assessment
100% coursework
Study location
University of Warwick main campus, Coventry

Introductory description

N/A

Module aims

This module aims to: · Relate international trade to the phenomenon of globalisation, particularly in terms of the impact of globalisation on socio-economic and political structures and relations both within and between states · Appreciate the significance of national trade policies in the international trade system and to understand the principal tensions in the contemporary international trading system between countries and regional and multilateral entities. · Examine and analyse the issues at play in the Millennium Round in the light of the conclusions of the Uruguay Round and subsequent developments. · Assess the extent to which the World Trade Organisation has contributed to the evolution of a multilateral trading regime.

Outline syllabus

This is an indicative module outline only to give an indication of the sort of topics that may be covered. Actual sessions held may differ.

  1. Introduction to and Overview of the Module
  2. Thinking About Case Studies
  3. Food Poverty and the Politics of Agricultural Trade
  4. Health Politics and Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property
  5. Reading Week: No Class
  6. Uneven Development and the Trade in Services
  7. Ethics and International Trade I: Environmental Destruction and Protection
  8. Ethics and International Trade II: Human Rights and Labour Standards
  9. Security and International Trade
  10. Review: Structure and Process in the Politics of International Trade

Learning outcomes

By the end of the module, students should be able to:

  • Demonstrate a sound grasp of the main theoretical arguments and substantive issues regarding the politics of international trade
  • Demonstrate knowledge of the key actors in the political economy of international trade, and the institutions and processes through which they interact
  • Apply the knowledge they have gained to questions of policy affecting organisations both in the public and private sectors
  • Conduct research to postgraduate level
  • Present work coherently and to a high academic standard.

Indicative reading list

George, Alexander L. and Andrew Bennett, Case Studies and Theory Development in the Social
Sciences (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2005).

Bayne, Nicholas and Stephen Woolcock, The New Economic Diplomacy: Decision-Making and
Negotiation in International Economic Relations (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004).

Efstathopoulos, Charalampos, and Dominic Kelly, 'India, Developmental Multilateralism, and the
Doha Ministerial Conference', Third World Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 6 (2014), pp. 1066-81.

Hurrell, Andrew, 'Hegemony, Liberalism and Global Order: What Space for Would-be Great
Powers?', International Affairs, 82(1), 2006, 1-19. [Note: This is a special issue on 'new' /
'emerging' powers, so all of the articles will be useful.]

Narlikar, Amrita, 'New Powers in the Club: The Challenges of Global Trade Governance',
International Affairs, 3, 2010, 717-28.

Ian Taylor and Karen Smith, The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (London:
Routledge, 2007), Ch. 6. This is an e-book available through the library.

Heidi Ulrich, 'Civil Society and the World Fair Trade Organization: Developing Responsive
Accountability', in Jan Aart Scholte (ed.), Building Global Democracy: Civil Society and
Accountable Global Governance (Cambridge: CUP, 2011), Ch. 14. This is an e-book available
through the library.

Clapp, J., Food (Polity, 2012), pp. 1-23 (the introduction); and pp. 57-89 ('Uneven Agricultural
Trade Rules').
Coskeran, H. et al, 'Trade in Manufactures and Agricultural Products: The Dangerous Link?', in Martin Daunton et al (eds), The Oxford Handbook on the World Trade Organization (OUP, 2012). Margulis, M.E., 'The Regime Complex for Food Security: Implications for the Global Hunger Challenge', Global Governance, 19 (2013), 53-67. Zeller, C., “From the Gene to the Globe: Extracting Rents Based on Intellectual Property Monopolies”, Review of International Political Economy, 15, 1 (2008) 86-115. Clapp, J., “WTO Agriculture Negotiations: implications for the Global South”, Third World Quarterly, 27, 4 (2006) 563-577. Grant, W., ‘Agricultural Trade’, in Dominic Kelly and Wyn Grant (eds), Trade Politics in the Twenty-First Century: Actors, Issues, Regional Dynamics (Palgrave, 2005), pp. 92-106. Raustiala, K., and D.G. Victor, “The Regime Complex for Plant Genetic Resources”, International Organization, 58 (2004) 277-309. Duffield, M., Global Governance and the New Wars: The Merging of Development and Security (London: Zed Books, 2001), Chapter 2. Huysmans, J., “Security! What Do You Mean? From Concept to Thick Signifier”, European Journal of International Relations, 4, 2 (1998) 226-255. Kelly, D., ‘Trade, Security and Globalization’, in Dominic Kelly and Wyn Grant (eds), Trade Politics in the Twenty-First Century: Actors, Issues, Regional Dynamics (Palgrave, 2005), pp. 71-91. Richardson, N.R., ‘International Trade as a Force for Peace’, in C.W. Kegley, Jr., Controversies in International Relations Theory: Realism and the Neoliberal Challenge (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995), pp. 281-94. Abbott, F.M., “The Doha Declaration on the TRIPs Agreement and Public Health: Lighting A Dark Corner at the WTO”,Journal of International Economic Law, 5 (2002) 469-505. May, C., ‘Intellectual Property Rights’, in Dominic Kelly and Wyn Grant (eds), Trade Politics in the Twenty-First Century: Actors, Issues, Regional Dynamics (Palgrave, 2005), pp. 164-82. Sell, S.K. and Prakash, S., ‘Using Ideas Strategically: The Contest Between Business and NGO Networks in Intellectual Property Rights’, International Studies Quarterly, 48, 1 (2004), 143-75. Tyfield, D., “Enabling TRIPs: The Pharma-Biotech-University Patent Coalition”, Review of International Political Economy, 15, 4 (2008) 535-66. Drake, W.J. and Nicolaïdis, K., ‘Ideas, Interests and Institutionalization: “Trade in Services” and the Uruguay Round’,International Organization, 46, 1 (1992), pp. 37-100. Higgott, R., and H. Weber, “GATS in Context: Development, an Evolving Lex Mercatoria and the Doha Agenda”, Review of International Political Economy, 12, 3 (2005) 434-455.
Marchetti, J.A. and Roy, M. 'The TISA Initiative: An Overview of Market Access Issues', Journal of World Trade, 48, 4 (2014), 683-728. Wiener, J., ‘GATS and the Politics of “Trade in Services”’, in Dominic Kelly and Wyn Grant (eds), Trade Politics in the Twenty-First Century: Actors, Issues, Regional Dynamics (Palgrave, 2005), pp. 144-63. Campling, L., Harrison, J., Richardson, B.J. and Smith, A. 'Working Beyond the Border? A New Research Agenda for the Evaluation of Labour Standards in EU Trade Agreements', International Labour Review, DOI: 10.1111/j.1564-913X.2015.00037.x Kim, M. 'Ex ante due diligence: formation of PTAs and protection of labor rights', International Studies Quarterly, 56, 4 (2012), 704-19. Jones, K., “The WTO Core Agreement, Non-Trade Issues and Institutional Integrity”, World Trade Review, 1, 3 (2002) 257-276. Maskus, K.E., “Regulatory Standards in the WTO: Comparing Intellectual Property Rights with Competition Policy, Environmental Protection, and Core Labor Standards”, World Trade Review, 1, 2 (2002) 135-152. The proposed EU chapter on 'sustainable development' (the environment and labour rights) in the TTIP:http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2015/november/tradoc_153923.pdf Capling, A. and Higgott, R. (2009), ‘Introduction: The Future of the Multilateral Trade System – What Role for the World Trade Organization’, Global Governance, 15 (3), pp. 313-25. Jones, K. (2010), The Doha Blues: Institutional Crisis and Reform in the WTO (Oxford: Oxford University Press), Ch. 7, pp. 169-190. Siles-Brügge, G. (2014), ‘Explaining the Resilience of Free Trade: The Smoot-Hawley Myth and the Crisis’, Review of International Political Economy, 21 (3), pp. 535-74. Wilkinson, R. (2014), What’s Wrong with the WTO and How to Fix It (Cambridge: Polity), Ch. 6, pp. 160-80. Bernstein, W., A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World (London: Atlantic Books, 2008). Barton, John H., et al, The Evolution of the Trade Regime: Politics, Law, and Economics of the GATT and the WTO, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006). Croome, J., Reshaping the World Trading System: A History of the Uruguay Round (Geneva: World Trade Organization, 1995). Dunkley, G., The Free Trade Adventure: The WTO, the Uruguay Round and Globalism – A Critique (London: Zed Books, 2000). Findlay, R., and K.H. O’Rourke, Power and Plenty: Trade, War and the World Economy in the Second Millennium (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2007).
Gamble, A., and A. Payne (eds), Regionalism and World Order (London: Macmillan, 1996). Gardner, R.N., Sterling-Dollar Diplomacy in Current Perspective: The Origins and Prospects of Our International Order (New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, 1980). [New and Expanded edition.] Grugel, J., and W. Hout (eds), Regionalism across the North-South Divide: State Strategies and Globalization (London: Routledge, 1999). Hocking, B., and S. McGuire (eds), Trade Politics: International, Domestic and Regional Perspectives (London: Routledge, 1999). Hoekman, B., and M. Kostecki, The Political Economy of the World Trading System: The WTO and Beyond (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001). Jackson, J.H., World Trade and the Law of the GATT: A Legal Analysis of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merril, 1969). Jackson, J.H., The World Trading System: Law and Policy of International Economic Relations (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997). Kelly, D., and W. Grant (eds), The Politics of International Trade in the Twenty-First Century: Actors, Issues and Regional Dynamics (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005). Khor, M. Rethinking Globalization: Critical Issues and Policy Choices (London: Zed Books, 2001). Lee, D. and R. Wilkinson (eds), The WTO After Hong Kong: Progress In, and Prospects For, The Doha Development Agenda (London: Routledge, 2007). Moon, B., Dilemmas of International Trade (Boulder, CO.: Westview Press, 1996). [Various editions.] Odell, J.S., Negotiating Trade; Developing Countries in the WTO and NAFTA (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). O’Rourke, K.H. (Ed.), The International Trading System, Globalization and History, Volume II (Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2005). Peet, R., Unholy Trinity: The IMF, World Bank and WTO (London: Zed Books, 2009), 2nd edition. Pogge, T., World Poverty and Human Rights: Cosmopolitan Responsibilities and Reforms (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2008), 2nd edition. Raghavan, C., Recolonization: GATT, the Uruguay Round & the Third World (London: Zed Books, 1990). Taylor, A., and C. Thomas (eds), Global Trade and Global Social Issues (London: Routledge, 1999).
Whalley, J., and C. Hamilton, The Trading System after the Uruguay Round (Washington, D.C.: Institute for International Economics, 1996). Frieden, J.A., and D. Lake (eds), International Political Economy: Perspectives on Global Power and Wealth (London: Routledge, 2000), 4th Edition. Hirst, P., G. Thompson and S. Bromley, Globalization in Question (Cambridge: Polity Press, 2009). Hoogvelt, A., Globalisation and the Postcolonial World: The New Political Economy of Development (London: Macmillan, 1997). Oatley, T., International Political Economy: Interests and Institutions in the Global Economy (London: Longman, 2006). O’Brien, R., and M. Williams, Global Political Economy: Evolution and Dynamics (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2004). Payne, A., The Global Politics of Unequal Development (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2005). Ravenhill, J., (ed.), Global Political Economy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005). Stubbs, R., and G.R.D. Underhill (eds), Political Economy and the Changing Global Order (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 2nd Edition. Wilkinson, R., and S. Hughes (eds), Global Governance: Critical Perspectives (London: Routledge, 2002).

Subject specific skills

tbc

Transferable skills

tbc

Study time

Type Required
Lectures 9 sessions of 2 hours (9%)
Seminars 9 sessions of 2 hours (9%)
Private study 164 hours (82%)
Total 200 hours

Private study description

tbc

Costs

No further costs have been identified for this module.

You must pass all assessment components to pass the module.

Assessment group A1
Weighting Study time Eligible for self-certification
Assessed Essay 100% No

A 5,000-word essay.

Feedback on assessment

Feedback on the assessed essay will be provided to all students using the standard PAIS PG essay
feedback form providing commentary on comprehension, analysis, critique and presentation as
well as overall comments and suggestions for improvement.

Courses

This module is Optional for:

  • Year 1 of TPOS-M9PT MA in International Development
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M1PA MA in International Politics and Europe
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M9Q1 Postgraduate Politics, Big Data and Quantitative Methods
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M1P3 Postgraduate Taught International Political Economy
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M1P8 Postgraduate Taught International Politics and East Asia
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M9P9 Postgraduate Taught International Relations
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M9PC Postgraduate Taught International Security
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M9PS Postgraduate Taught Political and Legal Theory
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M9PF Postgraduate Taught Public Policy
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M9PQ Postgraduate Taught United States Foreign Policy

This module is Option list A for:

  • TPOS-M9PP Double MA in Politics and International Studies (with Universität Konstanz, Germany)
    • Year 1 of M92B International Political Economy (Double Degree - Konstanz)
    • Year 1 of M92H Public Policy (Double Degree - Konstanz)

This module is Option list B for:

  • Year 1 of TPOS-M9PE Double MA in Politics and International Studies (with NTU Singapore)
  • Year 1 of TIMA-L981 Postgraduate Social Science Research
  • Year 1 of TPOS-M1PD Postgraduate Taught the Politics of Climate Change